These planning activities focused attention on priority 

 recovery needs through the early 1980s. They also helped forge a 

 strong base of cooperation among numerous Federal, State, local, 

 industry, and private agencies and organizations. A review of 

 important contributions by the Commission, the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, the Florida Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida Power & Light Company, the 

 Save the Manatee Club, and other key agencies and groups is 

 provided in previous Annual Reports. 



Notable accomplishments during the first half of the 1980s 

 included: developing technology to radio-tag and track manatees; 

 improving and expanding the manatee salvage and necropsy program; 

 implementing a well-conceived, cooperative research program; 

 establishing and posting boat speed zones and no-entry zones in 

 selected manatee habitats; adding new areas containing important 

 manatee habitat to the existing system of Federal and State 

 refuges and reserves; developing strong cooperative public 

 information and education efforts; and fostering cooperative 

 planning with local and regional planning bodies. 



Despite these efforts, however, the most critical issues 

 (i.e. , record numbers of boat kills and increasing loss and 

 degradation of essential habitat) were not being resolved and, in 

 fact, were becoming worse. Therefore, in 1986, the Commission 

 initiated a thorough reexamination of the manatee recovery 

 program. Among other things, it contracted for a report to 

 evaluate manatee recovery activities and needs and held its 1987 

 Annual Meeting in Florida to conduct a review of the manatee 

 recovery program. To help prepare for that meeting, the 

 Commission wrote to the Fish and Wildlife Service on 19 November 

 1987 outlining its preliminary views of the critical management 

 issues. 



In its letter, the Commission recommended that the Service, 

 in cooperation with other involved parties: (l) 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; (4) strengthen the system of 

 boat speed regulatory zones and enforcement in essential manatee 

 habitats; (5) control development of new boating facilities in 

 essential manatee habitat; and (6) identify and undertake 

 priority manatee research. 



Those recommendations served as the focus of manatee- 

 related discussions at the Commission's meeting, which was held 

 on 10-12 December 1987. In addition to the Commission and its 

 Committee of Scientific Advisors, participants included 

 representatives of the principal Federal and State agencies, 

 private organizations, and public interest groups involved in the 

 manatee recovery program. During the meeting, there was general 



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