By Sharon Young

The fight to save endangered manatees in Florida has been a long one, and it shows no sign of ending soon. The West Indian manatee, which inhabits many of the busy waterways in Florida and southern Georgia, is at risk as a result of expanded development and an increase in boat ownership. Between 2000 and 2005, 1,682 manatees died in Florida waters, an almost 18 percent increase over the previous five-year period. Collisions with boats are the leading cause of human-related mortality in manatees: In the last five years, 398 manatees were killed by boats. That's a 17 percent increase over the previous five-year period. The death toll from boats rose again in 2006, when more than 90 were killed. The fight to protect this vanishing species and to reduce human-caused mortalities has occurred in a number of forums.

Florida Chooses Economics over Manatees 

Those with economic interests in Florida have been unflagging in their attempts to weaken protections for manatees, and they've found a sympathetic ear in government. Despite findings that the manatee population in Florida was likely to drop by 50 percent over the next 50 years and by as much as 80 percent in southwest Florida during that time, the state set about removing endangered species protections from the manatee. In October 2002, the Florida Marine Research Institute (a state science agency) responded to a petition from boater's rights groups who chafed at restrictions imposed by the regulations protecting endangered species. The FMRI recommended downlisting the manatee from "endangered" to "threatened" on the state endangered species list.

When Is Endangered Not "Endangered"?

The FMRI didn't make this recommendation because manatees are recovering, but because the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) adopted new criteria for listing animals on state endangered and threatened species lists. In essence, the FWCC decided to adopt the same criteria as The World Conservation Union (IUCN), but with the categories shifted over by one: The definition used by The IUCN to designate a species as "critically endangered" would be used by The FWCC to designate a species only as "endangered," and the IUCN definition of "endangered" would be used by The FWCC to place animals on the "threatened" list. Thus manatees, whose population was in decline and was expected to continue to decline, were moved down from "endangered" to "threatened." "In this way, there is the perception that progress has been made in protecting endangered manatees, when in fact the situation remains as bad as ever," says Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with The HSUS.

Changing definitions imperils more animals than just manatees. For example, there are approximately 300 north Atlantic right whales remaining from a population that once was in the tens of thousands, and they too are declining. Yet according to federal The Marine Mammal Commission, even right whales would not qualify as endangered under Florida's new definitions. As a matter of fact, The MMC has informed officials in Florida that its criteria "as currently formulated are fundamentally flawed and inappropriate for marine mammals, as well as sea turtles and certain other species" and recommended that the state keep its current definitions and continue to list manatees as endangered. But the state has ignored this expert advice.

What about the Feds?

Although downlisting the species under a state law does not directly affect the manatee's listing on the federal endangered species list, it can't help but influence federal regulators. In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent a report to the White House proposing to downlist manatees at the federal level.

In 2005 a bill was introduced in congress to amend the federal Endangered Species Act. Tucked in at the end of the bill during the last hours of debate in the U.S. House of Representatives was language that would allow contractors in Florida to build docks without complying with the restrictions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This would make it easier for them to increase the number of docks placed in important manatee habitat. Fortunatately this measure did not pass, but economic interest groups are always looking for ways to increase profits, often at the expense of wildlife, and The HSUS will vigorously oppose any attempt to reduce protection for manatees.

The Battle in the Courts

In January 2000, a coalition of environmental and animal-protection groups, including The Humane Society of the United States, filed two lawsuits (under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act), one against the federal government and the other against the state of Florida. The suits claimed the defendants—including the USFWS, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the FWCC—failed to adequately protect manatees against watercraft collisions and habitat destruction, among other things.

These lawsuits were settled in 2001, when the agencies promised the court that they would take such protective measures as establishing additional sanctuaries for manatees and placing certain restrictions on the construction of docks and piers in manatee habitat. Instead of living up to their agreement, however, the federal agencies dragged their feet, prompting the court to intervene in 2002. These agencies were found in contempt of court and ordered to comply with the agreement.

In 2003 the Florida Marine Contractors sued the USFWS, claiming that manatees were not entitled to the protection of the MMPA and that the MMPA was not intended to apply to all marine mammals, just those in the open ocean. The HSUS joined the Save the Manatee Club and Defenders of Wildlife in siding with the USFWS. The judge in that case ruled against the FMCA, and manatees continue to be covered by the MMPA. In 2005 The HSUS joined the Save the Manatee Club in issuing a notice of intent to sue the Army Corps of Engineers for failing to consider risks to manatees in conducting blasting in the Port of Miami to widen the shipping channel.

In spite of rising mortality and warnings of increased extinction risk, in June 2007, the FWCC voted to downlist manatees and accepted a management plan that environmental and animal protection groups fought because it provided inadequate protections. And by caving in to pressure to relax protections at a time when manatees most need them, both the state of Florida and the federal government are earning a failing grade when it comes to protecting manatees.

Updated July 17, 2007. 

Sharon Young is The HSUS's Marine Issues Field Director.