State of Florida rejects Broward County manatee-protection plan
By IBI Magazine/Michael Verdon
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has rejected a Broward County manatee-protection plan that would have allowed the construction of nearly 7,000 slips in the waters around Ft Lauderdale. State officials said the plan would further endanger the manatee population in the county. Boats killed seven manatees in Broward last year, the highest number in at least 30 years. Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industry Association of South Florida, told the Ft Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel that the local marine industry was "disappointed" by the decision. The rejection extends a three-year moratorium on dock construction, boat ramps, and dry stack marinas. About 40 proposals for new marine construction have been held up throughout the county because of the moratorium. Broward is one of 13 Florida counties required to produce a manatee protection plan. Broward's environmental staff last summer prepared a draft that would have severely limited marine construction along the South Fork of the New River and the Dania Cut-Off Canal. At that point, marine industry leaders complained to county commissioners, who told the staff to revise the plan. The new plan called for the construction of 6,972 new docks in the southern Broward areas targeted by the marine industry for growth. Environmentalists, who had complained about the revised plan, said the county should have thought more about the impact on manatees before submitting it. "We believe everybody has a right to the waterways," George Cavros, conservation chairman of the Broward County Sierra Club, told the paper. "But you ought to site these marinas in a way that doesn't kill a slew of endangered species." Broward county officials have set up a meeting with marine industry representatives and environmental groups to discuss how to revise the plan. Marina owner Jack Loos said the rejection would harm the county's economy and restrict recreational opportunities for the average boater. "Everybody wants to protect the manatee," said Loos, whose project would expand an existing marina by more than 300 slips. "But you have to balance that against the ability of people who live here and pay taxes to enjoy their environment."
(16 January 2007)
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