Ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Keep
the Manatee's Status "Endangered"

The Issue:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced it will perform a 5-year review of the listing status of the Florida manatee. The manatee is currently listed as "endangered" under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose of this review is to determine whether manatees should be downlisted to "threatened" or retain their endangered status.

This process is called a 5-Year Review because the review is required every 5 years under the ESA. However, even though manatees have been listed as endangered since the ESA was enacted in 1973, this is the first time the review has ever been done. In fact, most listed species are not reviewed due to time and budget constraints but recently, after pressure from special interest groups, the more controversial species are getting the review.

In and of itself, this is not a bad thing since it is a legal requirement and it is the goal of the ESA to recover species and ultimately remove them from the list. What is of concern here though, is that there is a push by boating groups and developers with political muscle to declare manatees recovered before the threats that face them are reduced or eliminated.

What You Can Do:
Please help manatees by endorsing the following position letter. By adding your information below, you will be sending a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, asking them to keep the manatee's status as endangered. NOTE: All fields marked with * are required for your e-mail to be valid. Thanks for your support!

To the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

I believe the Service should retain the present classification of "endangered" for West Indian manatees. There is no new information that would warrant downlisting manatees at this time. There are, however, several compelling reasons for manatees to keep their endangered status:
  • Human-related manatee mortality, especially from watercraft, is still unacceptability high.

  • Threats to habitat, including loss of critical warm water sources, are increasing with no signs of abatement and will continue to increase as Florida's human population grows.

  • Existing protection measures need to be evaluated for effectiveness. There have been no studies to determine whether they are working or need to be expanded.
It is important that manatees not be declared recovered before the threats that face them are reduced or eliminated. I am depending on the Service to focus on the science and give the manatees protection they are entitled to under the Endangered Species Act.

Sincerely,

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