 GO-SLOW PLAN TO AID MANATEES MAKES WAVES -- ANGRILY DEBATED BREVARD ISSUE TO COME TO A VOTE WEDNESDAY Orlando Sentinel -- Monday, May 21, 2001 By: Ludmilla Lelis, Sentinel Staff Writer Cocoa -- The 21-foot deck boat cruised north on Sykes Creek, down that waterway's fastest stretch, whipping past spacious waterfront homes. As lifelong boater Ron Pritchard savored the ride, he glumly predicted the consequences of slowing boat speeds on Sykes Creek and other Brevard County waterways in the name of manatee protection. Lower property values. Boat trips that take twice as long. Discouraged boaters calling it quits. "This is the way to regulate the waters for those who don't like boats," he said. "Manatees can get out of the way of boats if they have plenty of time," said Patti Thompson, a biologist for the Maitland-based Save the Manatee Club and an advocate of slow zones. "A boat moving at slow speed gives manatees that chance." Brevard's waterways Ð where both Pritchard and the endangered manatee travel Ð have become the state's first battleground in the latest round of manatee-protection efforts. Scientists say it's high time for more controls in Brevard, where, in most years, boats kill more manatees than anywhere else in the state. But boaters, citing increasing manatee population counts, say the restrictions are excessive and unnecessary, burdening local boaters and inland residents who fish and ski in the county's many waterways. The debate over speed zones has been around for years, simmering quietly until the first proposals to restrict boat speeds were announced late last year. In recent months, boaters and anglers have packed public meetings, angrily denouncing the restrictions as another assault on their freedom. Environmentalists insist the changes don't pose as great a threat as boaters would claim. The debate became so heated that the Save the Manatee Club discouraged manatee supporters from attending a recent meeting in Brevard County, warning in a press release that "those opposing manatee protection have confronted and harassed speakers in an attempt to intimidate them and keep them from expressing their support for manatees." The Brevard proposal will come to a vote Wednesday in South Florida, when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will decide whether to make all of Sykes Creek and the Barge Canal slow speed, taking away the 25 mph corridors. Meanwhile, slow-speed zones could also be added to Turnbull Basin, a popular flats fishing area, and along the shorelines of the Indian River. The speed restrictions result from a lawsuit Save the Manatee Club and other environmental organization had filed, asserting that state officials were lax in protecting manatees. The wildlife commission last month decided to settle the lawsuit and go ahead with new boating restrictions. Other counties, including Volusia, could soon follow the same course, with new restrictions, all of which makes Brevard an important testing ground. Thompson said more slow-speed zones are needed in Brevard, which accounted for 13 of the 78 manatees killed by boats last year. However, Pritchard, who leads a local boaters' organization, Citizens for Florida Waterways, criticized the plan because he believes recreational boaters aren't the problem. He thinks barges and larger vessels are responsible for the deaths. Scott Calleson, an environmental specialist with the state wildlife agency, said that some manatee deaths can be blamed on barges, but not all of them. Other changes simply don't make sense, Pritchard said. On a recent boating trip, Pritchard pointed out a pair of men wading in knee-deep water, fishing with hand nets where a new slow-speed zone is proposed. "That's a slow-speed zone for what? Walking?" Pritchard said. Waters too shallow for manatees are pointless to regulate, he said, adding that the rule changes point to a different agenda. "What there is, is a desire to close off the waterways," he said. Thompson says it's more a matter of sharing waterways. "We live in a crowded society, and people have to realize they need to share the resources," she said. "Things aren't the way they used to be." PROPOSED SLOW-SPEED ZONES The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is proposing new slow-speed zones for boats throughout Brevard County for manatee protection. Some of new slow-zone locations include: - The southern and eastern sections of Turnbull Basin near Titusville. - TheIntracoastal Waterway channel would be set at 25 mph. - Along the shoreline of most of the Indian River south of the NASA Causeway. - All of the Merritt Island Barge Canal and Sykes Creek. - Some sections there currently allow 25 mph. - The Banana River north of State Road 528. For a complete set of maps showing what Brevard County speed zones would look like if these and other measures are approved, go to: http://floridaconservation.org/psm/Brevard/brevardmap.htm SOURCE: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Copyright (c) 2001, Sentinel Communications Co. |