The Save the Manatee Club, created by Executive Order of 

 the Governor of Florida, with assistance from the Florida 

 Department of Natural Resources, singer Jimmy Buffett, and 

 other concerned citizens: began preparing and distributing 

 information on manatees and the status of manatee recovery 

 activities; organized programs, including an adopt-a-manatee 

 program, to help raise money for manatee conservation 

 activities; and provided proceeds from those activities to 

 help supplement essential manatee research and management needs. 



Despite these cooperative efforts, some of the most 

 critical issues (e.g. , record numbers of boat kills and 

 increasing loss and degradation of essential habitat) had not 

 been resolved and the long-term survival of manatees in the 

 United States remained tenuous. Therefore, in 1986, the 

 Commission, with partial support from the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, contracted for a report to review and evaluate manatee 

 recovery issues, activities, and priority needs. In addition, 

 the Commission devoted its 1987 Annual Meeting primarily to 

 discussions of West Indian manatees. In advance of that 

 meeting and based, in part, on a draft report of the study to 

 evaluate the manatee recovery program, the Commission wrote 

 to the Fish and Wildlife Service on 19 November 1987 outlining 

 its views of the critical management issues. 



In its letter, the Commission recommended that the Service, 

 in cooperation with other involved parties, take prompt action 

 to: (1) update the West Indian Manatee Recovery Plan and 

 Comprehensive Work Plan; (2) reconstitute and reconvene the 

 West Indian Manatee Recovery Team; (3) complete manatee-related 

 land acquisition projects in the Crystal River-Homosassa 

 River area of northwest Florida; (4) strengthen the system of 

 boat speed regulatory zones, including enforcement efforts, 

 in essential manatee habitats; (5) control development of new 

 boating facilities in essential manatee habitat; (6) identify 

 and undertake priority manatee research; and (7) coordinate 

 and expand public information and education programs. 



These recommendations provided the focus for manatee- 

 related discussions at the Commission's Annual Meeting, held 

 on 10-12 December 1987 in Miami, Florida. Representatives of 

 the principal State and Federal agencies and other organizations 

 involved in the manatee recovery program participated in the 

 meeting. There was general agreement among the participants 

 on all of the points recommended in the Commission's letter. 

 The results of meeting discussions and the initial steps to 

 follow up on recommended actions as of the end of 1987 are 

 described in the Commission's previous Annual Report. 



Among the follow-up actions begun before the end of 

 1987, the Commission: took steps to revise and complete its 

 contract report evaluating the manatee recovery program; 



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