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Manatee No Longer An Endangered Species (miamiherald.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the how-now-sea-cow dept.

An anonymous reader quotes the Miami Herald: The manatee -- for decades the poster mammal for environmental decline in Florida -- is officially no longer an endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that the manatee will instead be designated "threatened" -- a status change that reflects a boom in population over the last decade. In February, Florida wildlife managers released preliminary results of an annual count that recorded 6,620 manatees lumbering in the warm waters of Florida's lagoons, springs and canals... "We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine the chances of securing the manatee's long- term survival."
It was the third consecutive year to see an increase in the estimated population of manatees.

22 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Patrick by BinBoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > a status change that reflects a boom in population over the last decade.
    > "We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement.

    Patrick sounds like a really fun guy -- always looking at the positive side of things.

    1. Re: Patrick by Nidi62 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think Patruck is more worried about what reclassification would do to the longterm survival of his cushy Executive Director job at the Save the Manatees Club than he is the survival of the manatees.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:Patrick by mellon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is that just a couple of years ago manatees were dying off in large numbers—there were losses in some years of something like 30% of the total population, as a result of unusually cold waters. The current population peak coincides with a period of unusually warm water following El Niño. It's possible with global warming that that temperature trend will continue, but by no means guaranteed. So taking them off the endangered species list is premature. A population of 6000 is not exactly huge.

    3. Re:Patrick by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Patrick's club looks like a pretty slick operation.. Guess with the beasts no longer on the Endangered Species List he'll prolly sell a lot less Manatee Merch. Sounds like this may be a devastating blow to his income as well... Wait, you don't suppose that's why he's so upset, do you...? Nah, couldn't be...

    4. Re:Patrick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes.

      This is why they were moved the the Threatened list and off the Endangered list.

      They were not moved to the Yummy Please Eat As Many As You Want list.

      Yet another reason to celebrate global warming: the manatees are saved! I never understood why the pro-cold-planet people have been trying to kill off the manatees for decades. They're harmless.

    5. Re:Patrick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      And what about Patrick's "devastating blow to manatees" comment.
      It is very hard to deliver a blow of any magnitude to a manatee because they're in the water. And they're covered with fat so your fist just sinks in.
      Sometimes when I'm boating and see one of those fat fucks floating around, I get so pissed off I jump on it with both feet. They don't even turn to look at me.
      "Devasting blow" my ass. I bet he's never even tried to punch a manatee in the face. It's almost a waste of time.

    6. Re:Patrick by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

      > a status change that reflects a boom in population over the last decade.
      > "We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement

      According to Patrick, no matter what happens to the manatee population, it's a bad thing, lol.

      Population shrinks = Bad Thing.
      Population stays the same = Bad Thing.
      Population grows = Bad Thing.

      The only solution is to wipe them all out so we don't have to worry about them.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    7. Re: Patrick by brianerst · · Score: 5, Informative

      His salary was $86,192 in 2014. Patrick is effectively the entire administrative expense of the Save the Manatee Club (9.9% of the budget is taken up by administrative expenses, 7.13% of the budget is Patrick's salary). There are 8 additional "staff" positions - they seem to be a combination of volunteers or are compensated under "fund raising" or "program" expenses.

      I'd say this is probably his major source of income. It's a small organization (around $1.4M) and seems to do good work, but its income flow is entirely dependent on donors that are concerned about the status of the manatee.

  2. Re:Oh the huge manatee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everyone thought Donald was after the Muslims and Mexicans, but it was just a ruse to distract the American people from the fact that his #1 political agenda is to kill off those fat fuck manatees. Don't tell anyone, but I have also seen drafts of executive orders that will effectively end fire ants, parakeets, and rainy days.

  3. "a devastating blow to manatees" by cirby · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, a devastating blow to people who have invested their entire lives in telling people that manatees are dying off.

    Look, it's fine. We know about them, we figured out how not to kill them by accident.

    You did a good thing.

    Now, it's time to scale back the fearmongering just a bit.

    1. Re:"a devastating blow to manatees" by v1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While I'm a strong supporter for saving endangered species, there hopefully comes a point when any endangered species isn't endangered anymore. It takes time and resources to protect endangered species, and when you can call your job a success and strike one off the list as done, you do so in order to direct your resources at the next needy species. There's only so much to go around, and you need to put it where it will do the most good.

      If lowering their protection now results in a significant decline, they'll get their name back on the list. But until then, there are many more in need of that assistance.

      And to the gentleman that's upset about the lift and says there aren't enough of them, I ask you, how many is enough? Can you put a number on it? Do you even have a number in mind? The EPA etc have entire divisions of bean counters whose job is to run the numbers and calculate the risks when deciding where to spend their money and dedicate their resources - they're not just pulling this one out of a hat. You can count on this decision being the result of examining the numbers closely, and that beats any activist's armchair-quarterbacking on the issue.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    2. Re:"a devastating blow to manatees" by cirby · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I do live in Florida.

      And I do support the common sense restrictions on things like speedboats in areas where manatees live, and laws keeping people from annoying them.

      You can stop talking now.

  4. I probably shouldn't say this by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 5, Funny

    But does this mean I can have a manatee steak now?

    They're often referred to as sea cows.

    I love steak and I love seafood. Maybe this would be the perfect meal.

    I'm glad they're off the endangered species list though. This is good news whether or not it means I can every eat one. I don't expect to see it on a menu anytime soon. They are cool creatures.

  5. Re:Oh the huge manatee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Considering that they published a twelve month finding on the proposal to reclassify at the beginning of 2016, no, it probably can't be blamed on the Trump administration.

  6. Re:Oh the huge manatee by JoeMerchant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If DT can effectively end fire ants, I will personally kiss the ring.

  7. Re:Oh the huge manatee by amiga3D · · Score: 2

    Quit trying to confuse the issue with facts. We know The Donald was behind this!

  8. Re:Oh the huge manatee by brianerst · · Score: 2

    The reclassification proposal came on January 7, 2017 - before Trump was inaugurated. This is the Obama US Fish and Wildlife Administration's proposal, not Trump's. It simply was approved now.

    This took two seconds to Google. Not everything in the world needs to be seen through the lens of Trump.

  9. Job Security by Shoten · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actual quote:
    "We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine the chances of securing the manatee's long- term survival."

    Translated for clarity and accuracy:
    "We believe this is a devastating blow to my career," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine my chances of maintaining long-term employment."

    --

    For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
  10. Re:manatee reproduce too slowly by tomhath · · Score: 2

    You'll never eat tilapia again if you find out what they feed it.

  11. Re:manatee reproduce too slowly by Hartree · · Score: 3, Funny

    "There is increasing competition from fish, which produce a ton of eggs."

    Yeah, but how many fish eggs would I have to crack for an omelet?

  12. Re:Oh the huge manatee by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 2

    You're forgetting the #1 rule of politics for anybody is off of the deep end:

    If the guy you didn't vote for is in office, then suddenly the country sucks now and everything is his fault.

    Meanwhile nobody else really gives a fuck.

  13. Re:Manatee for nerds by Aighearach · · Score: 2

    the entire Slashdot staff being comprised of manatees which arrange "idea balls" to come up with headlines

    I didn't even realize that Cowboy Neal was still around!