I don't see any changes in speed zones, but it lets people know they are not on the brink of extinction. |
The bad stuff's really not moving. |
The herd is still expanding. In 2001, the Save the Manatee Club was saying they were on the brink of extinction and it was right about the same time a count of 3,300 came out. |
The process at the state and federal level was not to put an animal on the list and leave it there forever. |
There'll be some tricky stuff to try to figure out a way to get gill nets back in, but we'll keep an eye on it. |
We felt it was very important to let people know there are more manatees now than there were 25 years ago. So we're not in any emergency situation; we are in a situation where we have to manage the species carefully. |
We think manatee zones can be implemented that protect manatees and still provide reasonable access for boaters. That's been our argument all along, and I think the commission is becoming more and more receptive. |