of 13 speed zones covering about 7 5 miles of waterway on the east 

 coast of Florida be expanded to include 22 new areas and some 195 

 additional miles of waterway. 



During the hearing process, some interested parties, 

 principally those representing boat manufacturers, urged that 

 proposed actions to limit boat speeds and marina development be 

 deferred pending review by a blue ribbon panel . Regarding this 

 point, the Commission's letter noted that potential measures to 

 protect manatees from boats had already been carefully analyzed 

 (e.g., in the Commission's report on east coast habitat 

 protection needs and in the revised Recovery Plan) , and that the 

 urgency for implementing responsive actions was too great to be 

 deferred. Therefore, it urged that any further reviews be 

 directed at modifying and fine-tuning an implemented program as 

 proposed by the Department, rather than continuing to debate what 

 the optimal final system of regulated areas should be. 



The Department's draft report was presented to the Florida 

 Governor and Cabinet for its consideration at its 14 September 

 1989 meeting. During the meeting, the Commission's Executive 

 Director spoke in support of the Department's proposals. He 

 noted that the plight of the Florida manatee is clearly worsening 

 and that the Commission firmly believes the situation is one of 

 the country's most pressing wildlife conservation problems. He 

 also noted that the Department's draft proposal was a solid 

 effort to address the crucial issues, and that the set of 

 recommended actions could provide appropriate interim protection 

 while site-specific actions were being developed within the 

 context of county manatee protection plans and facility siting 

 policies. 



At the 14 September meeting, two elements were acted upon by 

 the Governor and Cabinet: the emergency 9 0-day rule for Brevard 

 County and the proposal for overtime pay for law enforcement 

 efforts. Both were adopted. Regarding other parts of the 

 Department's draft proposal, the Governor and Cabinet asked the 

 Department to proceed with developing a final set of proposed 

 actions and to prepare a final report for consideration at its 

 meeting on 24 October 1989. 



The Department did so and the final report was presented to 

 the Governor and Cabinet for consideration at its 24 October 

 meeting. In response to comments and further analyses, some 

 recommendations in the final report differed from those in the 

 draft. For example: the proposed channel speed limit was 

 changed from 30 MPH to 4 MPH in daylight with speeds limited to 

 30 MPH in all waters at night; a new recommendation was made to 

 reguire vessel operator licenses based on successful completion 

 of a boating education course and a test; the number of core 

 manatee counties was increased from 12 to 13 ; and within those 13 

 counties, the Department recommended establishing an interim 



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