Manatee in Florida

I became interested in the endangered manatee in Florida after reading several articles and a book about it. As the manatees are one of the endangered species, they are found year-round throughout the Florida and other places. The manatees inhabit fresh, warm, and salt waters of the Western Atlantic from Florida to Brazil. The problem is that the manatee is an endangered specie. According to FDNR (1994), the manatee mortality has increased dramatically in recent years. There are several reasons for this. One is that most of the deaths of manatee occur by collision with boats. That is related to the economic profit of people like boat rental business. Another reason is perinatal mortality due to cold temperatures, premature births, and other natural factors or human-related causes such as pollution and death of nursing mothers. Finally, habitat degradation that has is occurred endangering the manatee indirectly. That is, coastal development, over exploitation, chemical pollution and epidemic are affected mortality of manatee. The growth of Florida’s human population is a critical threat to the manatee. The endangered manatee is in serious trouble in Florida, and three things, speed limit of boat, strict laws, recovery program, should be done to protect the manatee in Florida.
As the manatee is a large marine mammal, it is streamlined in shape and its weight is averaging 1000 to 1500 pounds. It lives in Crystal River, near the middle of Florida’s West Coast and flows into the Gulf of Mexico, for spring and it move to the Kings Bay for wintertime. Because the manatee thrives in warm water and if the temperature is cold, below 68 degrees F, it would suffer stress and sometimes die. So it tends to go by coastal power plants to looking for warm water. And the manatee eats vegetation and many tiny animals lived in the grasses.
Now the manatee is an endangered species and it is in a crisis to extinct like the dinosaurs. Today, there are less than 2,000 manatees in the United States. The manatee mortality has continually increased. According to FDNR (1994), seven manatees died in 1974 years but its death became two hundreds and six in1990 years and one hundred and forty-five in 1993 years. Especially, about 40% of all manatee deaths are occurred by human activity.
One of the greatest reasons for death is powerboat collision. A lot of manatees die by of people’s boat and the number of watercraft is increasing in Florida. The manatees are hear well so they that are awake are usually scared by the sound of boat, but when manatees sleep, state called “torpor,” they occasionally float to the surface of water for fresh air and suffer an injury from boat. In addition, as people carelessly thrown fishing lines or net into the water, manatee’ fins or tails get tangled with them.
Second reason is causes of perinatal mortality. When mothers had a baby, cold temperatures premature births, and other natural factors are affected the living of the manatee. Also, mothers do not produce many offspring. Although mothers are strongly bonded to their calves, the manatee’s social ties among manatee are very loose. Therefore, more manatees are killed annually than are born.
Third problem is the about degradation of habitat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, humans hunted manatees widely for their meat and tough skin but these days hunting manatee was inhibited. However, in the Caribbean and South America, the manatees are still hunted. And coastal development along rivers has destruct habitat of the manatee. Foods of the manatee such as, estuarine sea grass, has damaged. In addition, chemical pollution of human has injured the immune systems of the manatee as be vulnerable to infection. For example, in 1988, canine distemper killed over 10,000 harbor seals in Sweden and Denmark. The fish that the seals eat has the PCB’s in the water and more fish the seals eat, more susceptible diseases their body accumulates. Moreover, since 1996, over 250 manatees have been found dead in southwestern Florida due to an epidemic. Another death of manatee is caused by exposure to red tide due to increasing pollution in Florida’s coastal water. As the result, development and pollution in coastal areas bring the loss of habitat and loss of the coastal grasses that are the manatee’s food.
The manatee is in serious trouble in Florida and to protect the endangered manatee we need to endeavor of human. First, the speed of boats should reduce to protect collision. So, that would mean setting 25-mph speed limits and instituting idle-speed zones. But developers, which were business like boat rental enterprise in coast are, opposed this rule because it is too restrictive to do well their business. In my opinion, both cons and pros of this rule about speed limit are reasonable words but environment is more important than profit of boat rental business. Once the environment is destroyed, it is difficult to recover. Especially, as the manatee is endangered animal, we have a duty to protect their life. Moreover, boat rental business can do at other place except manatee protection zone. There are a lot of lakes in the United States. I believe the government could aid make up for rental business that could be occurred by law of speed limit. The Florida is a tourist state. Every product, which made in Florida, could add the tax to protect manatee. I think that would be better the both sides environment and developer.
Second, laws should be made and strictly enforced that will protect the endangered manatee in the Florida and other place. There are many laws to protect manatees at present. Since 1970, when anyone harms or kills a manatee, they have imposed $500 fine. And then in 1967 the manatee was listed as an endangered species. In 1978 the State of Florida was assigned a refuge and sanctuary of manatee. However, the manatee still faces the risk of extinction. I agree with that all visitors should educate on proper and legal behavior around the manatees. And manatee should be listed in order to protect them because habitat of manatee is so sensitive that it may have easily a bad effect. According to an article, some agency like The Coastal Conservation Association insists on down listing the manatee is from endangered to threatened. The endangered species mean, “Its species has lost 80 percent of its population in the last 10 years or during its last three generations.” And threatened species identify that its species “has lost 50 percent of its population in the last 10 years” (2004). However, the manatee is still endangered and the number of the manatee is now scarce. Every organism has connected in close ecosystem. Therefore, if a little bit of change in this environment that has endangered species, they may face a crisis again. Many habitats of the manatee have become extinct except in Florida. Also, extermination of a species is human responsibility because humans make most of the problems. Therefore, to maintain or protect the manatees, the Fish and Wildlife Commission should keep the name on the endangered species list.
Third, FWS and Florida state government should activate the recovery program. The recovery program was initiated by FWS in 1976. Its goal is “to restore the Florida manatee as a viable self-sustaining element of its ecosystem.”(Clark, 1994). There are various activities in recovery program. Manatee rescue program is that insured and sick manatees capture by using telemetry equipment and rescue them. And manatee carcass salvage program is that trace the cause of death. Information, which, is collected from each animal, about anatomical, physiological, and life history, is used better understand the biological limitations of species. Also, enforcement activities’ purpose is to enhance community awareness of manatee issues. Habitat protection program is to restore manatee’s habitat degradation by human population in Florida and extensive coastal development. In addition, government conservation program is to understand of the problems facing manatees and to educate people. So these programs about recovery manatee could inform that endangered manatee is a serious problem and should protect it.
Consequently, the manatee in Florida is an endangered specie and it should strongly protect by speed limit of boat, strict laws, and recovery program. Manatee’s habit is slow and like warm water so occurred many accidents to them. Especially, the collision of boat is one of the greatest reasons when manatees have died. Moreover, manatees have a couple of perinatal mortality and mothers do not produce many offspring. Third problem is to degrade habitat by coastal development, human activity, red tide, and chemical pollution. These problems are made trouble more serious and threaten their life. Therefore, we need to make effort to protect the manatee. To begin with, speed of boat should reduce in manatee protection zone. And laws should be made and strictly enforced. The endangered status should maintain continually by Florida state and federal government. Finally, we should know what recovery programs mean and activate it. And then, I believe that the manatees could overcome at the endangered species status.