and wintering areas for manatees) and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service purchased substantial areas along the lower Suwannee 

 River (preferred summer habitat for manatees) . Acquisition 

 efforts are continuing in the region and, as mentioned below, by 

 letter of 1 August 1989, the Commission urged the Service to act 

 on two particularly important acquisition efforts: the 

 acquisition of lands along the lower Homosassa River (an addition 

 to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge) and acquisition 

 of a refuge headquarters site on Kings Bay (for the Crystal River 

 National Wildlife Refuge) . 



In 1988, the Commission completed a preliminary report on 

 habitat protection needs for manatees on the east coast of 

 Florida and Georgia (see Appendix B, Marine Mammal Commission 

 1988) . The report was a preliminary document because important 

 data on habitat use patterns from ongoing radio-tracking studies 

 and aerial surveys were expected in the near future. Among other 

 things, the report recommended acquisition of a number of east 

 coast sites that were already on the 1988 list of recommended 

 land acquisition projects for Florida's Conservation and 

 Recreation Lands Trust Fund. Placement on that list does not 

 assure acquisition and, to help evaluate priorities, the 

 Commission provided its report to Florida's Land Acquisition 

 Selection Committee, which administers the Trust Fund. 



Early in 1989, the Commission became aware of a new proposal 

 to add a 2,000-acre site along the Sebastian River on Florida's 

 east coast to the State's recommended land acquisition list. The 

 Commission's 1988 report had noted that the North Fork of the 

 Sebastian River appeared to be an important resting area and 

 fresh water source for manatees and recommended establishment of 

 a speed zone for the area. However, from information available 

 when the report was being prepared on the number of manatees 

 using the river, it was not clear that acquisition of the area 

 solely for the purpose of protecting manatees was warranted. 

 Thus, the report did not recommend land acquisition in that area. 



After the Commission's report was completed, however, new 

 information from manatee radio-tracking studies confirmed the 

 importance of the river to manatees. In locating a radio-tagged 

 animal in the Sebastian River, Service scientists observed at 

 least 50, and perhaps as many as 100, other manatees in the 

 waterway adjacent to the proposed acquisition area. 



The proposal to list the site on the State's recommended 

 acquisition list was to be considered at a meeting of the Land 

 Acquisition Selection Committee early in March 1989. Therefore, 

 on 8 March 1989, the Commission wrote to Committee members noting 

 that new information clearly supports the view that the North 

 Fork of the Sebastian River is a core manatee habitat and that 

 its acquisition would be an important contribution towards 

 building a network of protected areas for manatees on the east 



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