Hello Harry,

The whole point of the post went right past you.

It must have been a while since you live on the ICW in Auggie. The whole
area, ICW from Palm Valley south to Halifax, and Matanzas Inlet, has
been an East Indian Manatee Protection Zone for several years now. Don't
even think of throwing a wake through there. The little green men will
get you.

The point of the post and thread is: The current zones are effective.
The big increase in East Indian Manatee population proves it. Locals
don't want and cows don't need the new ones.

As poor a science as an aircraft-counted census is, it still shows the
visible population has climbed from 342 in Sept. 1988 to 4476 in the
Sept 03 census.
The census is Funded by St. Johns River Water Management District, and
reflects only sea cows counted in the St. Johns River. It does not take
into account populations state wide.

FACT: The "new" zones have not had any recorded East Indian Manatee
deaths. Ever.

The way the law is written. The "25 MPH speed limits in channels" are
relative to what? Landspeed water speed or tide speed? A sentence in
the second subparagraph, "White water shown at bow or stern" gives law
enforcement far too much "judgment call". Hitting most waves will make
whitewater, so will a sailboat at 5 knots. The law must be more
specific. ONLY a court of law has the right to determine guilt. There is
no court jurisdiction over the specific tort. Therefore, the policeman
is now accuser, judge and jury. Im sorry Harry, I have a little problem
with circumventing our constitution so casually.

The East Indian Manatee population has rebounded to the point where it
should be removed from the endangered status, and placed on the
threatened status roster. You will also notice I refer to the sea cow as
"East Indian Manatee". It is not indigenous to the United States.

By the way, I like sea cows too. Have been on 3 cow rescues with my
USCG-A pals, and would gladly report some jerk operating about in a
dangerous manner. Please note the majority of cow-in-distress calls come
in from concerned boaters.


Capt. Frank

Harry Krause wrote:
Capt. Frank Hopkins wrote:


You got that right NYOB. And, I do have a branch of my charter business
in St. Pete. But plan to retire to Astor.

I couldn't agree more. I wonder if DW and BB have a true clue. Perhaps
someday they can afford to vacation for an extended stay in Fl, and get
a glimmer of the true picture. I don't think either of them have a clue.
Now let's see if we can educate the poor snow birds.

Clues for the Canucks



The *fact* of the matter is, you're simply spreading boater propaganda
here, regarding manatees, rather than posting any sort of acceptable
science.

You're entitled to do that, of course,

The fact is that there is no accurate census on manatees now. There are
guesses, that is all. I've read some of the reports that detailed some
of the census techniques, and these are laughable, at best.

Your posts on manatee behavior are little more than a regurgitation of
everything every boating group in Florida has posted in defense of
higher boat speeds. I'm a part-time Floridian, and I'm aware of some
aspects of manatee population and behavior. My observations lead me to
different conclusions than much of what you've posted.

There's more at play here than manatees, of course. There's the issue of
high boat speeds, enormous boat wakes, careless boater behavior, driving
a boat while under the influence - these are all issues, along with
protecting manatees - that play into efforts to control the speed at
which boats are operated in the more protected Florida waters.

I used to live along the ICW, between the new bridge just north of St.
Augustine and the bend that turns towards the little airport basin. I'm
sure you are familiar with the general area. I filed many a complaint
about reckless boaters, boaters violating the no-wake zones and against
boaters, especially an airboater in the neighborhood, who violated noise
regulations. We also had some manatees in the area, very friendly ones,
who liked to patrol between where we were and the edge of Salt Run at
the S.A. inlet. Their presence added more to the general atmosphere of
the place than any overstuffed cruisers wallowing by, tossing up 8-foot
wakes.

You want some less restrictive regs that "protect" manatees? Then work
harder to prosecute irresponsible boaters.