MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



pending their resolution. In addition, sign posting for 

 some counties lagged a year or more behind the 

 adoption of final rules, and prior to 1993, when the 

 State Legislature relaxed penalties for manatee speed- 

 zone violations from a second degree misdemeanor to 

 an infraction, some enforcement officers were reluc- 

 tant to issue citations for such violations. As a result 

 of these problems and delays, it will probably be 

 several more years before enforcement and compli- 

 ance records will provide a good basis for assessing 

 the effectiveness of the boating regulations. 



County Manatee Protection Plans 



When the Florida Governor and Cabinet approved 

 development of boat speed rules for the 13 key 

 counties in 1989, they also directed those counties to 

 prepare manatee protection plans and adopted an 

 interim policy for siting boating facilities. Although 

 one of the core elements of the county plans was to be 

 the county boating regulations discussed above, other 

 elements were to address the siting of new boating 

 facilities and public awareness. The interim policy, 

 which was to be in effect in the 13 key counties only 

 until their manatee protection plans were adopted, 

 calls for conditionally limiting the construction of new 

 boating facilities and expansion of existing facilities to 

 one power boat slip per 100 feet of shoreline con- 

 trolled by the developer. 



Demands associated with developing boating 

 regulations precluded immediate attention by county 

 planners to other manatee protection plan provisions. 

 As development of boating rules progressed, however, 

 work on other plan elements increased. By the end of 



1994 one county manatee protection plan had been 

 adopted. In 1995 plans for three other counties were 

 adopted and work was underway on plans for the 

 remaining nine counties. As these plans were pro- 

 gressing, the Department applied the interim policy on 

 new boating facilities when reviewing permit applica- 

 tions received for constructing new docks and mari- 

 nas. Required rules for implementing the policy were 

 not developed, however, and during 1995 an adminis- 

 trative challenge was filed against the Department for 

 its failure to meet this requirement. At the end of 



1995 it was expected that an administrative hearing 

 would be held early in 1996. 



Flood Gates and Navigation Locks 



Animals that are crushed and drowned in flood 

 gates and navigation locks constitute the second 

 largest category of human-related manatee mortality. 

 As noted above, the number of such deaths increased 

 early in the 1990s and reached a record level of 16 

 animals in 1994 when heavy rains and more frequent 

 flood gate openings may have contributed to the high 

 death toll. In 1995 the number of manatee deaths 

 declined to eight but was still substantially above the 

 average annual mortality observed in the 1980s. Most 

 of the gates and locks in which manatees have been 

 killed are owned and operated by the South Florida 

 Water Management District and the Army Corps of 

 Engineers. 



To address the problem, officials from these two 

 agencies, the Florida Department of Environmental 

 Protection, Dade County, and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service formed a task force in 1992. Based on its 

 advice, engineers with the Water Management District 

 and the Corps began work to design pressure-sensitive 

 reversing door mechanisms, similar to those on 

 elevator doors, that could be fitted to the edge of gate 

 and lock doors. The initial design featured a plunger 

 mechanism that would activate a reversing mechanism 

 if depressed by an object caught in a closing door. In 

 1993 and 1994, under a cost-sharing agreement 

 between the Water Management District and the 

 Corps, prototype devices were tested on two gates 

 with high manatee mortality. 



Design problems became apparent during the initial 

 tests. However, anticipating that these could be 

 resolved and recognizing the urgent need for a solu- 

 tion, the Corps requested and received a 1994 appro- 

 priation of approximately $2 million under the Water 

 Resources Development Act to design and retrofit 

 existing gates with improved mechanisms. 



On 5 May 1995 the Corps requested comments 

 from the Commission and others on a draft project 

 modification report and environmental assessment on 

 plans to redesign and test the reversing mechanisms 

 and then retrofit devices on 20 water control struc- 

 tures in south and central Florida where manatee 

 deaths have been reported. The work was estimated 

 to cost about $2.6 million, and would be supported by 



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