Final Downlisting Vote Scheduled for December 5th
The Issue:
We won a huge temporary victory for manatees in September! Thankfully, Governor Charlie Crist stepped in and asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to postpone their vote to formally downlist manatees from Endangered to Threatened status. He pointed to the record-setting mortality in 2006 and to the need for a better method to estimate the manatee population.
Your e-mails to the governor were powerful and helped to convince him to take a brave stand for manatees. But now, Governor Crist is under intense pressure from go-fast boating and development interests to once more fast-track the manatee’s downlisting. The vote to downlist manatees in Florida is scheduled again for the Commission’s December 5th meeting.
The FWC is using a classification system to downlist manatees that desperately needs to be revised. Proving our point, the IUCN - World Conservation Union, a world authority on endangered species, recently classified the Florida manatee as "Endangered" using the exact criteria the FWC has adopted for their "Threatened" category. Unless the Commission changes its flawed listing rule, most of Florida's imperiled species will face increased risks as a result of losing protections afforded by their current listing status.
>> Read a letter to Governor Crist from Save the Manatee Club and other organizations representing over 21 million people (pdf).
>> Learn why downlisting manatees now is a bad idea (pdf).
>> Read the 2007 IUCN Red List report on manatees.
>> Read media articles on this issue.
What You Can Do:
1. Please attend the FWC Commission meeting on December 5th in Key Largo, Florida, to show your support for manatees. For details, please call Janice Nearing at Save the Manatee Club at 1-800-432-5646 or e-mail jnearing@savethemanatee.org.
2. If you can't attend the meeting, please take action for manatees by sending the letter below to Governor Crist and FWC Chairman Barreto, asking them to reject the downlisting of the Florida manatee and fix the state's flawed classification system. Please ask your friends and family to also send the letter.
3. Please also consider an online donation to help us with our upcoming efforts on this issue (or you can call us at 1-800-432-5646). Many thanks for your help!
Subject: Fix Imperiled Criteria, Maintain Manatee’s Protection
Dear Governor Crist and Chairman Barreto:
Thank you very much for postponing the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission's vote to formally downlist manatees. Numerous editorials from the major newspapers and people from around the globe supported this brave move.
It is now time to kill the downlisting idea altogether. As you pointed out, Governor Crist, we need a better way to estimate the manatee population, and there was record-setting mortality last year with this year's mortality keeping pace. Before the manatee's status is changed, we can and must reduce the number of human-related manatee deaths and their causes.
Governor, as a native Floridian, you have seen the results of the state’s tremendous growth first hand. As we develop wildlife habitat, we must give every chance to those animal and plant species that we displace. I therefore implore you to urge the Commission to revise Florida's listing/delisting rule criteria for its imperiled species classification system. The present criteria make it impossible for the state's most at-risk species to receive a fair and accurate review of their status.
Specifically, I ask that Florida's criteria be fixed to align it with the IUCN - World Conservation Union's. This will better ensure that all of the state’s imperiled species – including the manatee – are correctly classified and receive the protections they need.
Importantly, the IUCN - World Conservation Union recently classified the Florida manatee as "Endangered" using the exact criteria the FWC has adopted for their "Threatened" category. This global recognition of the manatee's risk of extinction is very timely and shows that Florida's move to downlist manatees is without merit.
In summary, I ask that you retain the manatee's current status until both human-caused threats and manatee deaths are reduced. Please revise Florida's listing/delisting rule criteria for classifying imperiled species so that plants and animals can be fairly reviewed, classified properly, and managed accordingly to sustain and even grow their numbers.
Thank you for your strong leadership on a matter that is very important to me.
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