of the West Indian Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus 

 latirostris ) Revised Recovery Plan." The Commission, in 

 consultation with its Committee of Scientific Advisors on 

 Marine Mammals, reviewed the Draft Revised Plan and, on 9 

 December 1988, returned comments to the Service. In its 

 comments, the Commission noted that the Draft Revised Plan 

 was well organized, that it did an excellent job of projecting 

 manatee research and management priorities and responsibilities 

 over the next five years, and that it appeared to address all 

 of the critical issues. The Commission, commended the Service's 

 staff and the members of the Recovery Team for preparing an 

 accurate, thorough, and useful Plan. 



With respect to recovery tasks identified in the Draft 

 Revised Plan, the Commission noted that many Federal, State, 

 and local agencies, private organizations and public interest 

 groups would have important and complementary responsibilities 

 under the Recovery Plan. Thus, extensive cooperation and 

 coordination would be required to carry out identified tasks 

 efficiently and effectively. However, the steps needed to 

 ensure that recovery activities are properly organized and 

 carried out were not set forth in the task outline. The 

 Commission therefore recommended that a new section of tasks 

 be added to the plan identifying the mechanisms that would be 

 relied upon to achieve the necessary level of coordination 

 during the course of plan implementation. 



At the end of 1988, it was the Commission's understanding 

 that comments on the Technical Agency Review Draft Plan would 

 be incorporated into a final Draft Revised Plan, which was 

 being provided to the principal involved agencies for final 

 review in February. After final agency review, the Revised 

 Plan is to be submitted to the Director of the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and other agency heads for final approval in the 

 spring of 1989. 



Support for Necessary Research and Management Tasks 



During the Commission's 10-12 December 1987 Annual Meeting, 

 it became apparent that radio-tracking was a cost-effective 

 means of collecting habitat use pattern data needed to make 

 sound recovery decisions. Similarly, the importance of 

 continuing ecosystem studies begun in 1987 on grass beds ,at 

 Hobe and Jupiter Sound, which are essential winter feeding 

 areas for manatees, also was evident. Radio-tracking studies, 

 however, were constrained by limited funding for needed 

 equipment. Also, it was uncertain whether the Service would 

 continue to fund studies at Hobe Sound at the level envisioned 

 when the five-year study was begun. Therefore, as noted 

 above, on 29 December 1987, the Commission wrote to the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service recommending that: a) funding for 

 radio-tracking manatees be increased by $120,000 to $150,000 



23 



