6/16/1992 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

F, FhuC Robert LeMasters of Sebastian was against more regulations. He pointed out that Indian River County already has'slow speeds in some areas and people have been trying to protect the manatee for some years now. He has been on the river for,40 years and it is his opinion that a slow speed is going to lull that sea cow to think that he can go anywhere he wants because everybody is running slow. He pointed out that the sea cow is not near as slow as some people think. In all his years on the river, he has hit only one sea cow and he sure didn't want to do that again. That was at idle speed and he thought he had hit a log. Patti Thompson of Maitland, staff biologist of Save the Manatee Club, which has approximately 30,000 members nationwide, stated that they support DNR's proposed rule. In fact, they feel the DNR rule does not go far enough to protect the manatee. They have always supported water activities taking place in land -locked lakes and other places rather than in areas that are manatee habitat. The DNR has worked hard to protect the manatee throughout the state and Indian River County is just one piece of the big picture. The manatees move through the lagoon on a daily and seasonal basis and they cannot let Indian River County be the weak. link in this important chain. As far as education is concerned, Save the Manatee Club is convinced that education is not enough. They realize that no one intentionally hits a manatee with their boat, so the purpose of the slow speed zones is to give the manatee time to get out of the way. She urged the Board to continue to support the DNR's proposed rule as it is written now. Allen Edwards, 29 year resident of Vero Beach, felt that MANWAC's modified recommendations are a compromise for everybody. Nobody got everything they wanted. With an increase in both boaters and manatee population, there will be more collisions with manatees, and he felt this is the time for a commitment to the MANWAC recommendations. John Little of Vero Beach stated that although he personally doesn't like regulation of this sort, he believes it is necessary, and he would urge the Board to support the latest revisions to MANWAC'S recommendations that were hashed out yesterday afternoon. All he heard at the last MANWAC meeting was that the DNR won't accept this. He urged the Board not to operate on that premise. It has been his experience that the DCA, the DNR and other agencies in Tallahassee will dictate to you what to do. However, the DNR has a job to do and we have a job to do, and, hopefully, out of that controversy and dialogue will come an acceptable solution. Part of the reasons for going before the Governor and Cabinet is for us to express our views and for the DNR to express their views. 16 _I