Overfishing: Oceans Are Dying
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| Move to End Harassment of Florida Manatees |
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| Wednesday, 15 July 2009 19:08 | |||
 The endangered Florida manatee is being illegally besieged by hordes of tourists who are allowed to swim with the animal, according to a formal petition for rulemaking filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) which issues permits sanctioning the practice. PEER is demanding that the federal agency stop giving out commercial swim-with permits, adopt rules that forbid swimming with the manatees and safeguard key manatee breeding and resting areas.
Every year an estimated 100,000 tourists participate in manatee "swim-with" programs that promote direct encounters in manatee lagoons. Studies indicate that approximately half of these human-manatee interactions constitute harassment, with tourists routinely observed poking, chasing, standing on or kicking manatees, as well as separating mothers from calves. Citing the anti-harassment mandates of laws such as the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act, PEER is formally petitioning FWS to halt manatee swim-with programs. If FWS does not act on the PEER petition within a reasonable time it will be subject to a lawsuit for failure to act. In addition, the agency may be liable to suit for failure to effectively enforce manatee protection laws. (From commondreams.org, Florida) 
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I totally support keeping these animals safe and unharassed. However, the latest group to petition the Fish and Wildlife Service is opting for a complete "no-touch" rule. I'm not sure that's the right solution. But my solution is the Manatee Narc Force. I don't want to use up all your comment space but you can read about it by clicking my name. Thanks for the attention to this issue!
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July 24, 2009
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