I thought the manatee population is improving. They are no longer on the endangered list, I think.
FL wants to whitelist fish and destroy aquarium trade
- Thread starter aussieman57
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Well..what happens is that there's a boost...then it all goes to hell...then they have to research and reinstate...
Are manatees increasing or decreasing? there were roughly 6500 in FL and 25% have died in 2021/2022 (800 in 2022) and I'm looking for data for 2023...289 deaths in 4 months.: https://myfwc.com/media/30691/preliminary.pdf but, it did boost them up enough to be removed or moved up to protected not endangered...and any environmental restrictions on corporations and businesses locally, so...as a result...with lifted restrictions...it's all a mess....again. They lifted early considering due to outside pressures and that's the result.
Brooker, who is the Director of Florida Conservation for Ocean Conservancy, spoke to the public on Tuesday about the issues faced by our coastal friends. He said Florida has lost 24% of its manatee population within the last two years. In 2022 we've lost 719—mostly due to starvation..
Sea Grass a main food, is negatively impacted by chemicals, fertilizers, etc. and disappearing at huge rates. Manatees are a protected species in Florida ($50k and 1 year jail) but their environment is not. They are particularly vulnerable because aside from the scarcity of sea grass in their habitats, they are also being affected by water pollution, injured by boats and killed by red tide events, a toxic algal bloom. Here's some info...easier than reposting it all if u wanna know: https://peer.org/areas-of-work/wild...eTgs0mq0YOmsWwaiNVAw-cLZp9P9wXkhoCTq8QAvD_BwE
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There's always exceptions and various reasons but, people are moving for pieces of Florida they like...it's like a pitbull ban or blah blah blah...people who know nothing hear horror stories and jump on the bandwagon...a lot of things like that happen here. Lots of "fear-driven rhetoric" gets ignorant people to jump on the bandwagon and many times, its people who don't know or don't care about the issues we are talking about...or it doesn't affect them...easy to turn a blind eye when it impact you 0%...the grass is always greener until someone sh1ts on your lawn...
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There's always exceptions and various reasons but, people are moving for pieces of Florida they like...it's like a pitbull ban or blah blah blah...people who know nothing hear horror stories and jump on the bandwagon...a lot of things like that happen here. Lots of "fear-driven rhetoric" gets ignorant people to jump on the bandwagon and many times, its people who don't know or don't care about the issues we are talking about...or it doesn't affect them...easy to turn a blind eye when it impact you 0%...the grass is always greener until someone sh1ts on your lawn...invasives are clearly an issue here...as are a lot of other issues...but, the plans proposed are reactionary and last minute....they've know about all of the invasives here years ago and did nothing...to be preventative is not in FL nature...from what I've seen. They'd rather wait until it's a crisis, put blame on someone, and target some group or offender when they coulda and shoulda fixed it years ago....They tote being free and no taxes and lower this and that and blah blah blah and it can't be the "miracle freedom state" if they have to spend a ton of $$$ upfront, so they don't unless it brings more business and tourism. Then when it is a massive problem, they propose some nonsense, and everyone who is outraged (whether educated on the matter or not....doesn't matter...it's all about buzzwords and fear and blame initiated from the top down) votes the nonsense thru are often completely backasswards and puts blame/punishes the wrong people and meanwhile those who are in charge and responsible get off and look like superheros for "protecting Floridas greatness" which is laffable at this point. There are actual commercials here for lawyers taking clients for military base chemical poisoning and what-not that was acknoledging the fact that many floridians are pro military and guns and police, etc....and many are hesitant to sue for the negligance that military locations here displayed when they buried toxic chemicals which poisoned and gave cancer to loads of people and rather than sue them, people would just suck it up...and have cancer and have their family die rather than file a law suit....the lawyers are smart and if they win a settlement, they get a piece...and people weren't joining the lawsuit.....so, they put out an add and it says, word for word, "If you are worried that you are suing the marine corp. don't be. You are not suing the marine corp. the federal govt. has put aside billions of dollars for victims of ________. Your law suit will in no way affect or hinder the marine corps." Ummm...so the billions of dollars set aside doesn't impact the armed forces? (They'll always get funding, but, whatever) and billions? Won't that impact us? ahahhaha...it's a joke...and blatant. Imagine being sickly and having 1/2 your family wiped out but, not wanting to sue cuz you support the marine corp. or back the blue or whatever....it's that kinda blind faith in FL and DUHsantis that screwing the good things up. Hence, the whitelist....the manatee nonsense....the PFAS and military bases...etc. There are great things as well...but, there are more shady/sketchy things than people realize...
There's always exceptions and various reasons but, people are moving for pieces of Florida they like...it's like a pitbull ban or blah blah blah...people who know nothing hear horror stories and jump on the bandwagon...a lot of things like that happen here. Lots of "fear-driven rhetoric" gets ignorant people to jump on the bandwagon and many times, its people who don't know or don't care about the issues we are talking about...or it doesn't affect them...easy to turn a blind eye when it impact you 0%...the grass is always greener until someone sh1ts on your lawn...invasives are clearly an issue here...as are a lot of other issues...but, the plans proposed are reactionary and last minute....they've know about all of the invasives here years ago and did nothing...to be preventative is not in FL nature...from what I've seen. They'd rather wait until it's a crisis, put blame on someone, and target some group or offender when they coulda and shoulda fixed it years ago....They tote being free and no taxes and lower this and that and blah blah blah and it can't be the "miracle freedom state" if they have to spend a ton of $$$ upfront, so they don't unless it brings more business and tourism. Then when it is a massive problem, they propose some nonsense, and everyone who is outraged (whether educated on the matter or not....doesn't matter...it's all about buzzwords and fear and blame initiated from the top down) votes the nonsense thru are often completely backasswards and puts blame/punishes the wrong people and meanwhile those who are in charge and responsible get off and look like superheros for "protecting Floridas greatness" which is laffable at this point. There are actual commercials here for lawyers taking clients for military base chemical poisoning and what-not that was acknoledging the fact that many floridians are pro military and guns and police, etc....and many are hesitant to sue for the negligance that military locations here displayed when they buried toxic chemicals which poisoned and gave cancer to loads of people and rather than sue them, people would just suck it up...and have cancer and have their family die rather than file a law suit....the lawyers are smart and if they win a settlement, they get a piece...and people weren't joining the lawsuit.....so, they put out an add and it says, word for word, "If you are worried that you are suing the marine corp. don't be. You are not suing the marine corp. the federal govt. has put aside billions of dollars for victims of ________. Your law suit will in no way affect or hinder the marine corps." Ummm...so the billions of dollars set aside doesn't impact the armed forces? (They'll always get funding, but, whatever) and billions? Won't that impact us? ahahhaha...it's a joke...and blatant. Imagine being sickly and having 1/2 your family wiped out but, not wanting to sue cuz you support the marine corp. or back the blue or whatever....it's that kinda blind faith in FL and DUHsantis that screwing the good things up. Hence, the whitelist....the manatee nonsense....the PFAS and military bases...etc. There are great things as well...but, there are more shady/sketchy things than people realize...
Very affordable to live depending on where...and again...when you bought your house...and to get back on track....if the issues don't impact you, how much do you honestly care if those in charge screw them up? Your main concern based on your post was property tax and for that, it's amazing. The numbers are great. I have numerous friends in the realtor business, some own their own companies...my family has homes in Captiva and I live on the east coast near Cape Canaveral...and yes...in the areas that aren't highly sought-after, it's more affordable for more people than the tourist-driven/high-technology places. But, people aren't moving here to live in the middle of nowhere. They are moving to the places with the good jobs and the touristy beaches...which prices in those areas, which I currently live, are off the charts...the avg home price is roughly $385k in ALL of Florida...my area: $441k in Fort Myers: $360k - Naples: $584K ....etc. and in 2015 the avg home price was $170k...so, I guess everyone's definition of affordable is different depending on lots of factors...and I won't even address the hillbilly comment...lolol...
They understood it...but, they dropped the ball. You can't provide funding for everything so, they stuck with what Florida totes as the freedoms...low/no taxes, citrus, beef, guns, military, police, etc...and going back decades, taking kickbacks for turning a blind eye to many things that ruin the environment, hurt the people...and hiding it from the public...now those things have hit a crucial pivotal moment and many of those issues have come full circle and they are placing blame elsewhere and targeting groups to get the common folk all riled up....it's like the ants in the jar thing....they're now shaking the jar with this whitelist....amongst other things....
OK, so now we've moved onto manatee deaths. First, there are a lot of theories regarding red tide. One you don't hear a lot about is deep water injection wells. If you track red tide up along the gulf coast it coincides with deep water injection wells. For those not familiar with this little nightmare it involves drilling wells into prehistoric aquifers below drinking water aquifers. Partially treated sewage is then pumped into these prehistoric deep well aquifers with a "guarantee" that it will not impact the drinking water aquifers for at least one hundred years. Youngquist is the company involved in this fiasco. I used to do well water testing for the state before and spoke to a former employee of this company (a whistle blower) who stated that Youngquist wrote the EPA guidelines monitoring their own company. No bias there. He also mentioned that they are supposed to be monitoring test wells in the aquifer for pollution but that many of the test wells end in sand. He showed me a map of the well locations along the gulf coast which eerily coincided with red tide patterns.
Another issue which affects the eel grass the manatees feed on is the rampant spraying of weed killer in the freshwater canals. I live on one of these freshwater canals that empties into the Myakka River which in turn empties into Charlotte Harbor. Years ago, there was a common sense approach to weed control in these canals. That is up until 3-5 years ago when North Port put a new clown in charge who had airboats spraying weed killer in canals until there was not a shred of plant matter in the water. I complained about this all the way up to the head biologist in the state. Their response was as follows: 1. people do not want weeds in the canals. 2. the canals are not for recreation they are a drainage system. 3. The weed killer they are using is harmless to wildlife. Sooo, I asked him who was complaining about weeds and why did they not do a study. I asked him why they built the "Blue Water Kayak Launches" all up and down the canals with tax payer money if they were not used for recreation. I reminded him of the bass fishery and other species in these canals that many of us enjoy and why we choose to pay higher property taxes to live on these canals. I reminded him that the aquatic vegetation that were decimating provided a natural filtering system for runoff pollutants before they reached the harbor and estuaries. I also reminded him that his harmless weed killer was creating an anoxic environment in the canals as the dead vegetation rotted resulting if massive fish kills. He did not enjoy speaking with me; apparently they don't like speaking with people with biology and environmental degrees. They finally stopped the crazy weed killer over spraying a couple of years ago after it became readily apparent that it was wiping out eel grass in the harbor. Once again too little, too late.
Youngquist makes millions with their deep water injection wells.
Weed killer manufacturers made a crap load of money and I'm sure some politician got kickbacks. My wife even caught them dumping a truck load into a canal to avoid having to spray it.
Is Florida corrupt? Yes as is every other freaking state in the country. ALL politicians in my point of view are cockroaches and corrupt. ALL OF THEM, not just Florida. So, can we please stick to the topic at hand and stop bashing FL. People in glass houses should not throw rocks.
Another issue which affects the eel grass the manatees feed on is the rampant spraying of weed killer in the freshwater canals. I live on one of these freshwater canals that empties into the Myakka River which in turn empties into Charlotte Harbor. Years ago, there was a common sense approach to weed control in these canals. That is up until 3-5 years ago when North Port put a new clown in charge who had airboats spraying weed killer in canals until there was not a shred of plant matter in the water. I complained about this all the way up to the head biologist in the state. Their response was as follows: 1. people do not want weeds in the canals. 2. the canals are not for recreation they are a drainage system. 3. The weed killer they are using is harmless to wildlife. Sooo, I asked him who was complaining about weeds and why did they not do a study. I asked him why they built the "Blue Water Kayak Launches" all up and down the canals with tax payer money if they were not used for recreation. I reminded him of the bass fishery and other species in these canals that many of us enjoy and why we choose to pay higher property taxes to live on these canals. I reminded him that the aquatic vegetation that were decimating provided a natural filtering system for runoff pollutants before they reached the harbor and estuaries. I also reminded him that his harmless weed killer was creating an anoxic environment in the canals as the dead vegetation rotted resulting if massive fish kills. He did not enjoy speaking with me; apparently they don't like speaking with people with biology and environmental degrees. They finally stopped the crazy weed killer over spraying a couple of years ago after it became readily apparent that it was wiping out eel grass in the harbor. Once again too little, too late.
Youngquist makes millions with their deep water injection wells.
Weed killer manufacturers made a crap load of money and I'm sure some politician got kickbacks. My wife even caught them dumping a truck load into a canal to avoid having to spray it.
Is Florida corrupt? Yes as is every other freaking state in the country. ALL politicians in my point of view are cockroaches and corrupt. ALL OF THEM, not just Florida. So, can we please stick to the topic at hand and stop bashing FL. People in glass houses should not throw rocks.
awesome info here. Perhaps in the future we should create a Florida manatee post, as lots of changes over the years in the canals near me.
but back to topic, what is the next steps us Floridans should take to keep the hobby alive here in Florida?
But the issue at hand isn't corruption and stupidity in Iowa or New Mexico or Peru. It's corruption and stupidity in Florida. And specifically stupidity and corruption in the Florida FWS Commission. Whose corrupt and stupid Commissioners are appointed by the corrupt and stupid Governor.
So what are the steps that Floridians should take to keep the hobby alive in Florida? Start with ridding the state of corrupt and stupid elected officials...who will actually listen to the people and not the developers and/or people who give them money (and/or free rides on private jets). I have a feeling that there will be an opening in the governorship in Florida soon enough...so in addition to not supporting someone corrupt and stupid for his party's nomination, maybe the people of Florida will support someone who is not corrupt or stupid to take over as governor...
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