Preserve Florida's majestic manatee

By NICK WALTER

nwalter@bradenton.com

Whether the bite's hot or not, it takes extreme patience for anglers to slow their engine to a hum and idle through a slow-speed manatee zone.

The bite's going off ahead. The solunar period is nigh. The tide is almost slack and, well, there's just no time to slow down.

Truth is, there are plenty of boaters who may not care about West Indian manatees, a federally-listed species classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Some longtime anglers have complained that there are manatee zones in certain areas around Terra Ceia Bay, in sometimes three feet of water, where they simply have never seen manatees.

Regardless of which manatee zones are effective, 2006 saw a record 417 manatee deaths. While some of those deaths may be attributed to red tide, the majority that were discovered by Florida Fish and Wildlife were caused by boat strikes.

Consider what might happen if manatees become extinct.

For one, a 45-million-year streak would end. According to Marine Mammal Medicine, fossil remains of manatee ancestors show they have inhabited Florida for just that - 45 million years.

Also, what about Manatee County?

It can't rationally be called Manatee County without manatees. How would we explain a name change to future generations? "Well, Pumpkin, we once named this county after manatees. Then our boaters helped kill them off."

Not only does the manatee by name provide an identification for this county, it is another aspect that makes Florida outdoors unique worldwide. According to Wikipedia, the population of manatees in Florida is thought to be between 1,000 and 3,000.

"Florida has the majority of manatees in the country," said Carol Knox, a biological administrator and manager of the manatee program at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in Tallahassee.

"It's something special," she said, "that people come here from all over the country and all over the world to see manatees."

My first, up-close look at a manatee outside the wild came at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota. In a giant tank, the hulking manatee glided about. The "sea cow" occasionally rolled 360-degree revolutions on a whim. It seemed to embrace joy in the movements as a child might when twirling in circles on a playground. It has its own harmless and carefree personality.

In short, what a cool mammal.

So it's unfortunate when they're mutilated by a boat prop or tangled to death in fishing line. One way to avoid this is by putting useless line in a bucket instead of the water. Stray line also is a hazard for birds.

"Our manatee protections still are not sufficient," said Mary Sheppard, conservation chairman of the Manatee/Sarasota Sierra Club. "We really need to work more on the consciousness of boaters to do the best job they can avoiding them."