committed funds to the Florida Department of Natural Resources 

 to help continue meetings of the Manatee Technical Advisory 

 Council and to prepare curricula for public schools on 

 protection of manatees and coastal ecosystems; and wrote to 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service on 29 December 1987 recommending 

 that the Service provide funds to expand radio-tracking studies 

 and to continue studies of factors affecting the growth of 

 seagrasses eaten by manatees in Hobe Sound. In addition, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service identified prospective new members 

 for the Manatee Recovery Team, established a timetable for 

 revising the Recovery Plan, and began drafting parts of the 

 Revised Plan. 



As described below, during 1988, the Commission and 

 other involved agencies continued to take steps to redirect 

 and strengthen cooperative manatee recovery activities. 



West Indian Manatee Recovery Team and Recovery Plan 



As indicated above, the Fish and Wildlife Service concurred 

 with the Commission's recommendation that the Recovery Team 

 be reconstituted and that the Recovery Plan be revised and 

 updated. Accordingly, the Service appointed a new Recovery 

 Team and began preparing a revised Recovery Plan. To help 

 identify critical subjects to be addressed in the revised Plan, 

 the Commission's contract report entitled "Protection of West 

 Indian Manatees ( Trichechus manatus ) in Florida" (see J.E. 

 Reynolds and C.J. Gluckman 1988, Appendix B) was completed 

 and, in May of 1988, it was provided to the Service, members 

 of the Manatee Recovery Team, and other involved and interested 

 parties. Among other things, the report reviewed progress 

 since 1980 in developing the cooperative Federal-State-private 

 manatee recovery program, highlighted the need for protecting 

 essential manatee habitat and reducing collisions between 

 manatees and boats as the two most critical issues, and 

 recommended future research and management priorities. 



With respect to the last point, the report recommended, 

 among other things, that efforts be undertaken to: expand 

 radio- and satellite-tracking studies; continue and improve 

 the salvage-necropsy program; continue seagrass studies in 

 Hobe Sound and initiate similar studies in other areas; identify 

 and pursue additional land acquisition projects; expand the 

 system of boat speed regulatory zones to include additional 

 manatee habitat and to strengthen enforcement at established 

 zones; intensify efforts to incorporate manatee protection 

 provisions into local growth management plans; develop criteria 

 for determining when permit applications for boating facilities 

 in manatee habitats should be denied, approved, or approved 

 conditionally; expand and target information and education 

 materials for boaters, divers, and school children; and continue 



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