Here is why I hate manatees;
Growing up as an active boater/angler in the Indian River lagoon area, I was absolutely inundated with manatee related information. In school, on TV, there were license plates, etc; it was a if I lived in ManateeWorld. There were sports teams called the manatees. It was wierd for many of the locals who really could not give two craps about the ugly seacows.
The reason for manatee's initial endangerment was a particulate pollution from Florida's paper mills. Also, they are extremely vulnerable to cold water temperatures. Acts were taken in the late 70s to improve the water quality (good thing), but boating regulations also were implemented to reduce speed to "no wake" in "Manatee Areas" (not such a good thing). At the time, roughly one in four of known manatee deaths were caused by lacerations from boats.
The reason I say that they speed reduction regulations were not a good thing is that they are really not that effective. The ratio of boat related deaths has not really changed, but every year or so, more areas are designated no wake areas........entire rivers that used to be havens for skiers, fisherman, & recreational boaters and now crawlways. Imagine EVERY road and highway in your town being re-classified as 15mph zones because people are hitting cows. It is also very important to note that manatees are dumb enough to rub up against boat hulls and engines intentionally to remove the presuambly itchy debris which accumulates on their backs. This being said, it is reasonable to speculate that some of the scars which are evident on their backs are self inflicted.
Manatee advocates claim that manatees are a necessary part of the ecosystem because they eat vegetation that could possibly choke the rivers and canals without their assistance. This, of course, is complete horse****. It was manufactured by the eco-nazis in the 70s to try to find a reason to promote manatee awareness. In reality, they DO eat a lot of vegetation..........namely the sea-grass which serves as a nursury for countless species of aquatic life. If you damage sea-grass beds with a constructon barge, your company will be fined........but NO ONE wants to address the fact that an increasing populaion of manatees WILL affect the overall ecosystem in the river basin.
Now........the overall population has been increasing........the real figures are probably not known because most of the research is performed by manatee advocacy groups. In approximately 12 hours on the water this weekend, I saw at least 60 manatees. Some of my good friends have witnessed THOUSANDS of manatees gathered around warm water outputs from power plants during their mating season............THOUSANDS, stacked 2-3 deep in the water over acres. These estimates are from trustworthy sources. In the seventies, there were an estimated 100 of mammals in existence TOTAL.
This observance brings up a point that is sort of THE dirty little manatee secret.......they NEED the warm water from the plants to survive. Once the water drops below 56F, they will die........period. The population is basically on life support from Florida Power & Light.
So, in summary, I hate manatees because they have caused overzealous regulation in the waterways.......regulations that have not REALLY been proven to be effective. The population HAS increased since the water has been cleaned up, but the percentage of laceration related deaths has remained the same despite uber-regulation of boat speeds. There are so many of these damn things in the canals that running your boat (from your $500,000 canal home) is damn near impossible. I think tha there will ALWAYS be manatees dying from lacerations, simply because it is their nature to rub up against strange objects. Perhaps the BIGGEST reason that I hate them is that they represent a disinformation campaign; even going as far as to teach skewed or manufactured statistics to elementary school kids.
I guess, in retrospect, I don't hate Manatees........I hate the fanatical organizations that will do anything, say anything to further their cause......and I HATE when regulations are implemented when all that is needed is a little common sense (don't run them over).
