Florida Manatee - Issues and InformationManatee Myth: Florida Manatee - Native to Florida? Federal Manatee Protection Areas (Refuges & Sanctuaries) Manatee Rescue, Rehab & Release Program Out-of-State Manatee Sightings - What to Do and Not Do Conservation Agencies Encourage Boaters to Self-Report Collisions with Manatees FWC's Boater's Guide to Living with Manatees - PDF West Indian Manatee Classification Under ReviewThe U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it is moving forward on a status review for the West Indian manatee following an evaluation of information submitted in support of a 2012 petition to reclassify the species, including its subspecies, the Florida manatee and Antillean manatee, from endangered to threatened. The announcement, referred to as a 90-day substantial finding, marks the start of a more in depth status review and analysis required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to determine whether reclassification of the West Indian manatee is warranted. The Service also is electing to simultaneously conduct an updated five-year status review also required by the ESA. The Service is also soliciting additional data or other information fromn researchers, federal and state agencies, and the public regarding the West Indian manatee that for use in conducting their reviews. The 60-day comment period for submitting this information is now open. In order to be consider in the 12-month review, this data and information must be received on or before September 2, 2014. See the Federal Register notice for submission details. Submit Information, data and comments via the www.regulations.gov docket # FWS-R4-ES-2014-0024. Manatee Stock Assessment Reports (SAR)
IMPORTANT NOTE: A Tampa Bay Times article published January 23, 2013 by Craig Pittman contained an error in fact. In the third paragraph the reference to 99 commercial fisheries deaths is incorrect. As stated in the report, there has been a five-year average of 99 human related deaths per year (Table 1, pg 17); none of which were tied to commercial fisheries operations. Thus, within the context of this fisheries focused report, lethal take of Florida manatees from commercial fisheries activities is obviously well below the calculated Potential Biological Removal (PBR) number of 14.98 (pg 3). As noted in the Service spokesperon's interview with Mr. Pittman, this report acknowledges there remain other human and natural threats but only focused its conclusions within the fisheries context as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
2011 Florida Manatee Project Key Programmatic Assessment
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