Manatees need more protection, Buchanan says

As promised, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan announced Thursday that he led a bipartisan group in sending a letter to the secretary of the interior encouraging him to reverse the downlisting of the Florida manatee.

On March 30, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the manatee would no longer be considered endangered, but instead reclassified as threatened. In a tweet announcing the downlisting, FWS said the change was a “#WildlifeWin!”

Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, immediately called the decision a “huge disappointment” and said he planned to contact Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, whose department oversees FWS.

He then wrote the letter that was signed by 11 Florida congressmen, including Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, and Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg.

According to the letter, while the decision was being mulled over, around 87,000 public comments were sent to FWS against the downlisting, while 72 were for listing the marine mammal as threatened.

“Despite the agency’s assertion that a downlisting from endangered to threatened would not affect federal protections for the manatee, the move could cause a broader reassessment of critical state and local protections for the animals,” the letter read.

During an aerial survey conducted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this year, 6,620 manatees were counted on the state’s coasts. Yet manatee deaths continue to rise, as 405 individuals were recorded dead in 2015 and 520 in 2016. Threats to their survival include boats, cold water, red tide and habitat loss.

“This decision was disappointing and potentially very harmful to the survival of the iconic Florida animal,” the letter read.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 11:10 AM with the headline "Manatees need more protection, Buchanan says."