Florida Boaters Want U.S. To Slow Down On Manatee Protections

Apr. 8--ORMOND BEACH, Fla.--Cruising along the dark tea-colored waters of the Tomoka River, Capt. Kent Gibbens can point out landmarks that no map can provide.

He knows where the ospreys and eagles nest, where a 10-foot alligator has her den, where the tarpon and redfish run each year. He can give a history lesson pointing out manmade coves dug decades ago or where a yellow-crowned night heron rookery was lost to development. He remembers when the river was wild, when water moccasins dangled off cypress branches near the southern end.

And the 60-year-old fishing guide also remembers a time when manatees could scarcely be found.

"When we were kids, we were excited, 'Oh, look! There's a manatee,' " he said. "Today, they're everywhere, and they didn't used to be."

With manatees apparently more abundant, Gibbens and other boaters question a new federal proposal that would require them to take the 13 miles of the Tomoka and its adjoining creeks at slow or idle speed year-round. The plan, the details of which were announced last week, also would slow boaters on sections of the Halifax River and create new refuges in the St. Johns River near Jacksonville and the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County.

"What they really want to do is get boats out of the water," Gibbens said. "We have all the laws that we need."

Environmental groups say the zones are necessary because of the increasing numbers of manatees killed in those rivers. According to state statistics, 30 manatees were killed by watercraft in east Volusia between 1974 and 2002, including three in the Tomoka in 2001. Statewide, there were a record 95 manatee deaths caused by boats last year.

"When you look at the history of mortality, with the increase in recent years, that's why we believe the current speed zones are not sufficient to protect manatees," said Sandra Clinger, east Central Florida regional coordinator for the Save the Manatee Club.

"The Tomoka River, in particular, is an extremely important manatee habitat. Manatees are in that river during some of their most sensitive times," she said, referring to several documented cases of female manatees birthing their calves in the Tomoka and its tributaries.

All sides will have a chance to comment on the plan by writing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or attending public hearings, including a workshop scheduled in Daytona Beach for May 14. After taking public comment, wildlife officials will announce the final decision this summer.

The zones could be finalized by August with signs posted by September.

The new manatee proposal is the result of a settlement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a coalition of environmental groups, including the Save the Manatee Club, that sued the federal government three years ago for stricter manatee protections, which included new speed zones for Brevard County. Unhappy with the progress of federal changes and with increasing manatee mortality, the coalition went back to court in August seeking another set of speed zones.

Under the new proposal, boaters would lose the current 25 mph zones and would have to go slow year-round throughout the Tomoka, on the northern stretch of the Indian River, as well as in areas near the bridges and near Ponce Inlet on the Halifax River. Federal officials would also expand slow zones outside of the marked channel in the Halifax and lower the speed in the channel from 30 mph to 25 mph.

Reid Hughes, a Daytona Beach environmentalist, supports new rules. "I think that's the very minimum of what we could do."

Boater and angler groups have blasted the proposal.

"The state of Florida alone has already established more than one quarter of a million acres of manatee protection zones, and Florida's manatee population is continuously expanding," said Ted Forsgren, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association. "There is simply no justification or science to support federal action."

Several homeowners along the Tomoka River say they worry their property values could suffer.

"I don't mind protecting the environment, but I'm not going to give up my quality of life," said Doug Thomas, who has lived on the river for 20 years. "And if I can only paddle up and down the river at slow speed, what has that done to the value of my investment?"

LEARN MORE

The proposed changes can be read online at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Web site northflorida.fws.gov.

SHARE YOUR VIEW

Federal officials will have three public meetings about the changes. The Central Florida meeting will be 6:30 to 9 p.m. May 14 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

People can also send written comments about the changes to Field Supervisor, Jacksonville Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Attn: Proposed Manatee Refuges, 6620 Southpoint Drive South, Suite 310, Jacksonville, FL 32116 or by e-mail to manatee@fws.gov.