Florida Manatee - Issues and Information
West Indian Manatee Reclassification Proposed - comment period closed April 7, 2016As a result of significant improvements in its population and habitat conditions, and reductions in direct threats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced today that the West Indian manatee is proposed to be downlisted from endangered to threatened status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposal to downlist the manatee to threatened will not affect federal protections currently afforded by the ESA, and the Service remains committed to conservation actions to fully recover manatee populations. The ESA defines an endangered species as one currently in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and a threatened species as one that is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. Given its review of the best scientific and commercial information available, including analyses of threats and populations, the Service proposes that the West Indian manatee no longer falls within the ESA's definition of endangered and should be reclassified as threatened. The Service will publish its proposal in the Federal Register tomorrow, beginning a 90-day comment period in which the public is invited to submit scientific or technical information that will aid the agency in reaching its final decision. The manatee protection measures currently in place would remain in force if the species is downlisted from endangered to threatened. The finding and additional information is available online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/. In the Keyword box, enter Docket Number FWS-R4-ES-2015-0178. Background information on the Florida and Antillean sub-species is available at http://www.fws.gov/southeast/wildlife/mammal/manatee/. To ensure the Service's review is complete and based on the best available scientific and commercial information, the Service is requesting information concerning the status of the West Indian manatee throughout its entire range (see range map). Specifically, the Service seeks information on the manatee's biology, distribution, abundance, population trends, demographics and genetics; habitat conditions; the threat posed by climate change; past and ongoing conservation measures that have been implemented for the species, its habitat or both; threat status and trends within the geographical range; and a wide variety of other information. Comment period closed April 7, 2016. For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions. You can view all of the comments and information submitted at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/. NOTE: an inadvertent error occurred in the Federal Register's original notice published on January 8, 2016 reflecting the comment period closing April 8, 2015: that is not correct. The date shown above is the correct closing date. The FR published a correction in its Wednesday, January 13, 2016, edition, see link below. Federal Register Notice - Proposal to Reclassify Federal Register Notice - Public Comment Period Closing Date Correction Submit Information, data and comments via the www.regulations.gov - docket # FWS-R4-ES-2015-0178. Listen to the press conference announcing our proposal. Feb. 20, 2016 Open House & Public Hearing Presentation - PDF with speaker notes - PDF slides only Feb. 20, 2016 Open House & Public Hearing Posters - PDF Feb. 20, 2016 Public Hearing Transcript - PDF Feb. 20, 2016 Public Hearing Comments Submitted from Non-Speakers (not captured in transcript) - PDF 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).
Governing Laws
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