and maintained at that level for the next five years to tag and 

 track 20-25 manatees annually, and b) full support be provided 

 for the second year of the five-year ecosystem study at Hobe 

 Sound. 



On 9 February 1988, the Service responded to the 

 Commission's letter. The Service noted that it would fully 

 fund the Hobe Sound study in Fiscal Year 1988 at the level 

 proposed at the outset of the study. With respect to 

 radio-tagging research, the Service agreed that the studies 

 were very important, but indicated that, due to budgetary 

 limitations and research needs for other endangered species, 

 it would not be able to expand radio-tagging work unless it 

 received additional funds. Further, it would be able only to 

 support efforts to continue monitoring manatees tagged in 

 1987 and deploy three new satellite tags provided to the 

 Service by the Florida Department of Natural Resources. 



The Service subsequently submitted a proposal to the 

 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation requesting funds to 

 help supplement tagging and tracking research. A copy of the 

 proposal was sent to the Commission by the Foundation and, on 

 17 June 1988, the Commission wrote to the Foundation expressing 

 its strong support for the proposal. The proposal was approved 

 and, with cooperative support from other agencies and organi- 

 zations, radio-tracking studies were maintained at a level 

 comparable to that supported in 1987, but were not expanded 

 as recommended by the Commission. 



By late summer 1988, it became apparent that the need to 

 strengthen manatee recovery efforts was becoming urgent. 

 Twenty-nine boat killed manatees had been recovered between 

 January and the end of July and it was apparent that the 

 previous year's record high of 39 boat kills would be eclipsed 

 in 1988. Therefore, the Commission, in consultation with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors on Marine Mammals, decided 

 to abandon some of its research plans for other species and 

 to invest most of its remaining Fiscal Year 1988 research 

 funds in manatee-related studies. 



As noted above, late in 1987 the Commission provided 

 Fiscal Year 1988 funds to the Florida Department of Natural 

 Resources to support the Manatee Technical Advisory Council 

 and to develop curricula for public schools on manatee and 

 coastal ecosystem protection. After consulting with its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors as well as representatives 

 of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Department of 

 Natural Resources, and other agencies and organizations involved 

 in manatee recovery, the Commission allocated funds to six 

 additional manatee-related projects in late summer 1988. 



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