From:

http://flaglerlive.com/5502/hanging-...natees-tristam


Hanging With Manatees

Pierre Tristam | June 3, 2010


Other than the one time I saw one in a controlled tank at Epcot, I’d
never seen manatees in their own environment, up close. That changed
yesterday.

I was on a dock on the Intracoastal at around 5 p.m., across the inlet
to Mirror Lake. And there they were. Three, four, five, maybe six of
them, including a baby nuzzling up to its mother. They were snorting,
rolling, ambling around and below the dock like primitive but oddly
flexible submarines. They’d disappear. The water would look its muddy
indifferent self. Then swirls would form, the sign of hugeness lurking
beneath, and one of them would surface, snort, twirl, and go back under
in that natural slow motion that could stop Big Ben from ticking. They
look almost as big as Big Ben, too, these animals that weigh 1,000
pounds or more and live long enough to qualify for Social Security.


They sort of do. They’re listed as one of Florida’s 40 endangered
animals, though there’s some debate over whether they should be. The
2005-2006 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission‘s Florida Manatee
Biological Review Panel recommended that the Florida manatee be listed
as Threatened–still not all that reassuring, if you’re a manatee (or a
lover of manatees). But what that would mean is that the likelihood of
your extinction, as a manatee, would be considered low, at least over
the next few decades.

The numbers don’t suggest anything like fruitfulness. An authoritative
manatee census put their number in all of Florida at 2,310 adult animals
a few years ago. That’s not a lot of manatees no matter how big they
are. And last year was particularly deadly: 429 recorded manatee deaths
in Florida, 97 by watercraft, just 37 from natural causes.

Every manatee matters, or should. They may not be endangered to the
point of extinction. But that shouldn’t be the only criteria by which
they’re protected. Assuming there were 10,000 manatees, would be less
objectionable every time one of them was slashed to death by a propeller
blade? Listening to those who make the argument against the sort of
manatee protection that translates to speed limits and no-wake zones on
the Intracoastal, that’s what the argument comes down to: if they’re not
in danger of extinction, why bother burdening boaters with slower speeds?

Evidence of the argument’s stupidity was in front of my eyes. I took a
lot of pictures. At least two manatees showed the sort of damage, on
their back and on their tail, that looked alarmingly like the slashes of
propeller blades.

I wasn’t going to rely on my instant, useless analysis. This morning I
shipped the pictures you see here to the Fish and Wildlife Commission,
where Karen Parker passed them on to a biologist who works in the
agency’s imperiled species section in Tallahassee.

The biologist’s conclusion: The series of white markings in two spots
you see on the manatee to the left “looks like two healed prop scar
patterns,� the biologist wrote back. I’d missed one of the patterns, the
one lower down, but if you look carefully you’ll notice the symmetrical
pattern of prop marks across the back, quite different than the ones
higher up: two separate strikes, in other words.

The marks on the tail in the picture further up: “Looks like resolving
prop injuries, cold stress lesions, or a combination of both.� I can
hear objections now: those are just guesses. The manatees are alive and
twirling. There’s risk everywhere. All true. But there’s a difference,
talking about these animals in the abstract, and seeing them, and their
injuries, up close. They’re not impressions on a license plate anymore.
They’re not ideological marking grounds in a public meeting drier than
freon. They’re living, audibly breathing remnants of an age predating
everything about us. They couldn’t harm an amoeba. But we’re harming them.

In Flagler County, not much: Of the six manatee deaths recorded last
year, just one is directly attributable to a watercraft. Same story the
previous year. The numbers are higher in Volusia, where there’s more
boats, and more congregating manatees. But Flagler’s waterfronts are
slowly beginning to sprawl with docks, and if they’re not, the
Intracoastal continues to transform into I-95′s hydro echo, with
Flagler’s portion as a speedster’s paradise.

Fish and Wildlife is proposing a rule that may bring speed limits to the
Intracoastal. Local boaters and “users� of the Intracoastal, as they’re
called, are mobilizing against the idea. They’ve stacked a local rules
committee, required by law (the committee is, the stacking isn’t) to
advise Fish and Wildlife, hoping to make it seem as if Flagler is
enthusiastically opposed to any such rules, as if this were the sort of
thing that should be decided by a popularity contest. The biggest
counterweight to manatee advocates on the committee is none other than
Jon Netts, the Palm Coast mayor, who somehow managed to get himself
appointed to the rules committee and now chairs it: talk about literally
throwing your weight around. So the rules committee is a bit of a sham.
But its reach is merely advisory. And it still has its uses as a window
into the brackish brawn of local politics and boating interests.

Those propeller marks on manatees are its signature.

On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.

On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.



I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first
place, and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even
eliminate the indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has
caused much more damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you
can vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait,
I'll bet you do.

--

Non-partisan'r'us.

On 10/9/2010 12:48 PM, Secular Humouresque wrote:
On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.



I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first
place, and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even
eliminate the indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has
caused much more damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you
can vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait,
I'll bet you do.


What's the phrase here for a put down? Snerk? Is it snerk?

(snerk)

On 10/9/10 12:58 PM, Jim wrote:
On 10/9/2010 12:48 PM, Secular Humouresque wrote:
On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.



I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first
place, and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even
eliminate the indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has
caused much more damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you
can vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait,
I'll bet you do.


What's the phrase here for a put down? Snerk? Is it snerk?

(snerk)


And it was a non-partison put down, too!

After all, Tim says that if I cut down on my partisan political remarks,
the id spoofers and other right wing, non-boating assholes will go away.

We'll see.


--
Republicans are the Party of No:
No Leaders / No Ideas / No Morals

On Oct 9, 12:00*pm, Secular Humouresque wrote:
On 10/9/10 12:58 PM, Jim wrote:



On 10/9/2010 12:48 PM, Secular Humouresque wrote:
On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.

I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first
place, and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even
eliminate the indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has
caused much more damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you
can vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait,
I'll bet you do.

What's the phrase here for a put down? Snerk? Is it snerk?

(snerk)

And it was a non-partison put down, too!

After all, Tim says that if I cut down on my partisan political remarks,
the id spoofers and other right wing, non-boating assholes will go away.

We'll see.

--
Republicans are the Party of No:
No Leaders / No Ideas / No Morals

No Harry. What I said was:

"Tell you what, harry. You quit the political tripe and no guarantees,
but I'd almost wager the ID spoofers would disappear "

Jim wrote:
On 10/9/2010 12:48 PM, Secular Humouresque wrote:
On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.



I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first
place, and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even
eliminate the indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has
caused much more damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you
can vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait,
I'll bet you do.


What's the phrase here for a put down? Snerk? Is it snerk?

(snerk)
Only if you are an idiot.

On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:48:10 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

Perhaps, but did you ever hear it told so well? :-)

It's all true also. You can look it up as Casey Stengel used to say.

"Secular Humouresque" wrote in message
...
On 10/9/10 12:39 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:09:18 -0400, Secular Humouresque
wrote:

Hanging With Manatees

Manatee: Mmmm, tastes like eagle, or so we like to say here in SWFL.

A little known fact about Manatees that you will not hear from their
fervent, manatee hugging supporters, is how they got to Florida in the
first place.

Of course the official name for them is "West Indian Manatee" which
offers some clue to their origin. It turns out that the Spanish
conquistadors found them very tasty, and they would stock up on them
whenever they could capture some in the so called West Indies, mostly
the island of Hispaniola, now known as Hati and the Dominican
Republic. Capturing them is relatively easy since they are slow and
not very intelligent, unlike dolphins which play around moving boats
all the time and never get hit. The conquistadors would store them in
the bilge and use them as a source of fresh meat aboard ship. Of
course the waters of south Florida are shallow with many hidden
shoals. As a result, the Spanish lost a lot of ships here, and the
manatees would escape into the local environment. And so, another so
called engangered species was born. Meanwhile millions in
governmental resources are being wasted on manatee protection,
sometimes to the point of absurdity. A local power plant, for
example, made changes to increase efficiency, and as a result
discharged less heated water into the Caloosahatchie River.
Environmentalists successfully sued to force reinstatement of the warm
water discharge so that the manatees would not become too cool in the
winter time. In appreciation manatees by the hundreds now congregate
there every winter, literally wallowing in their own fecal matter.



I've only seen that tale about 100 times.

A known fact about the white man is how they got here in the first place,
and what they did shortly thereafter to decimate and even eliminate the
indigenous populations. And, of course, the white man has caused much more
damage to the environment than the manatee.

It must really "gripe" you and those like you that not everything in the
world is set up for your personal pleasure and advantage. Perhaps you can
vote for candidates who want to kill all the manatees. Oh, wait, I'll bet
you do.

--

Non-partisan'r'us.

Bwhahhhhaaaahaaaa.

Actually white man got here sort of like the Mongol's that got here, except
they used boats. There were white men here a lot earlier than Columbus.
China had at least 2 expeditions, the last one about 800 years ago. The
Danes had settlements up near Don's area. There were blue eyed indian
tribes in the south when the Spanish were looking for the Fountain of Youth.
There is the fossil from the Washington State area that is most likely a
white person, that the First Nation people for very great political reasons
will not let be studied. Kennewick Man. there is carbon dating of man in
North America 50,000 years ago. A lot earlier than Clovis Man and the First
Nation people ancestors. And lots of lands were changed by later arrivals,
where the first ones did not get to retain ownership of any land. who
controlled Germany before the Northern Germanic people arrived?

On 10/10/10 1:07 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:45:35 GMT, "A.Boater"
wrote:


On 9-Oct-2010, wrote:

Fossil remains only proved some came here and froze to death,

What part of "Modern manatees have been in Florida for over one million
years (probably with intermittent absences during the Ice Ages); i.e., a lot
longer than people have lived here." seems unclear to you?

The part that explains how they lived here in the winter before man
started building power plants.
Manatee start to die when the water gets much below 70f. At 68f they
lose more than two thirds.
Manatee did a seasonal migration, just like they do up the mid
atlantic coast now but the ones who stayed too long at the fair, froze
to death.
The other problem with fossils is they may date from the time that it
was a lot warmer and the beach was in Orlando.


There's significant scientific evidence that North, Central and South
America were first populated by nomads and their descendants who
traveled across the Bering Strait. You know, sort of like the manatees
came north. Thus, mankind is no more native to these shores than
manatees, right?

I'm not so egocentric that I believe the world exists for mankind alone.
Co-existence. Mankind tends to push out any critters in its way. Perhaps
your "go slow because of manatee zones" are a kind of cosmic payback.

--
Republicans are the Party of No:
No Leaders / No Ideas / No Morals