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MAY 8 1990 BOOK. 80 PAGE 27 Roland DeBlois, Chief of Environmental Planning, advised that the DNR in conjunction with the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service has reviewed the Board's submitted plan and determined that it did not provide adequate protection for manatees. In that respect, they met informally with some representatives of the county, such as the water skier interest group represented mostly by Mr. Bill Moody, and also met with staff to come up with what they thought would be an acceptable plan. Chairman Eggert believed our county seems to have the best track record of manatees not being killed, but we also seem to be faced with one of the more restrictive plans, and she did not understand this. Commissioner Bowman stated that the fact that you don't find a carcass in Indian River County doesn't mean they aren't hit here. They don't die where they are hit; so, there is no reason to assume the mortality in this county is any lower than it is anywhere else. Chairman Eggert asked if the manatees that died during the freeze situation would be found close to where they died or elsewhere, and Commissioner Bowman believed it would be pretty close to where they died. Chief Planner DeBlois advised that the State and the Wildlife Service looked at Indian River County from the standpoint of its value as a migratory corridor. It is a narrow part of the river with substantial sea grasses throughout, and, in addition, the Sebastian River is a documented area for manatees. Commissioner Bird reviewed the history of what has occurred to this point with our Manatee Protection Plan wherein we felt the Plan recommended by the Committee was too restrictive as far as boaters were concerned and adopted a plan that was more lenient towards the boaters with the result that the state did not like our Plan. He informed the Board that, for some reason, possibly because he was so vocal about the Plan, the State 24