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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.

6 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 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.

    2. 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. "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 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.

  3. 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.