5/26/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Bird suggested that we begin by finding out what the State agrees to and what it doesn't with regard to MANWAC's recommendations. Patrick M. Rose, Environmental Administrator of Protected Species Management, Florida Dept. of Natural Resources, advised that after the County's proposals were discussed at the May 5 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, the State backed down on a few matters. He could not give the Board an answer today on whether the Governor and Cabinet would accept the recommendations of MANWAC, but he would give the DNR's position atthis time; 1) DNR had proposed even a longer period of restriction in the various water sports areas, and they backed those off to try to accommodate a longer water sports season. The proposal differences are between DNR's date of May 31 and MANWAC's current recommendation of April 15. They will continue to look at that and analyze the data to see if there is any room to move on that. He could not give an answer today as to where they would finally shake out on that. 2) In terms of slow speed zones in the Intracoastal Waterway, he felt that they had gone through Indian River County very painstakingly and tried not to regulate the Intracoastal Waterway or make recommendations except in the most important areas for manatees. He believed there is only a total of two miles of area in the Intracoastal that they are looking at regulating. They have chosen those areas very carefully and have recommended only the more constricting points for boats and manatees. They will reassess those proposals with the recommendations they are receiving to see if any of those seem unnecessary in terms of that regulation. However, because these small areas are conjunctures and funnel points for manatees and boaters, it is going to be difficult for them to openly embrace that. 43