The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today the completion and availability of its five-year status review of the
The ESA defines ?endangered? as ??in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range?? whereas ?threatened? is defined as ??is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.?
Service managers said that the staff recommendation to change the manatee's status was validated by new scientific data.
"After reviewing all the information, we concluded a recommendation for a reclassification to threatened is clearly supported by the data," said Hankla.
Reclassifying a species requires a more formal administrative process.
"Before a classification change can occur, a separate proposed rulemaking process is required," said Noreen Walsh, assistant regional director for the Ecological Services program in the Service's Southeast Region office. "That formal proposal process would include ample opportunity for stakeholder and public review and comment.?
The data review and analysis for the Florida manatee included the use of a recently refined Core Biological Model (CBM) developed by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS); a tool for assessing manatee populations.
"We are excited by the capabilities of this new scientific tool," said Dawn Jennings, a fish and wildlife biologist in the Service's Jacksonville office and primary co-author of the review. "It is leading edge science and provided us with a solid scientific basis upon which to draw our conclusions about the status for the Florida manatee.?
Jennings and Hankla both noted that the CBM allowed Service staff to assess the effects, both individually and cumulatively, of the various threats to the Florida manatee's adult population over a long period of time.
While both acknowledge there are still some uncertainties in the Florida manatee's status, the good news is the manatees appear to be doing well overall.
Biologists said that the available information for the Antillean subspecies was not as extensive and that the CBM analysis was not used to assess this population, but added that the absence of this analysis does not mean that this subspecies is in immediate trouble.
"Our review of the available Antillean manatee literature and data lead us to conclude that, while the population is small, it does appear to be at least stable, maybe even growing slightly," said Edwin Muniz, field supervisor for the Service's Boquer
