Protect Florida manatees from disastrous dredging

Originally Posted: April 12, 2012

Protect Florida manatees from disastrous dredging

FROM Center for Biological Diversity

ACTION

Tell the Army Corps of Engineers that we don't want or need the SunWest-Harbourtowne mega-channel. The dredge would result in unprecedented destruction to Gulf Coast natural resources. The nearly five-mile-long, 85-foot-wide channel would cut through the seagrass of Fillman Bayou, part of Florida's "Nature Coast."

A manatee calf may stay with its mother for one to two years, even though it is probably nutritionally independent by the end of its first year. The calf gets information on feeding and resting areas, travel routes, and warm water refuges from its mother. Image and caption from Save the Manatee.org

Sign an online petition:
http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10164

And/or better yet, make direct contact:

Contact your U.S. Senators
http://www.senate.gov/
 
Contact your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov/ 

Colonel Alfred A. Pantano, Jr.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District
701 San Marco Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32207-0019
phone: (800) 291-9405 or (904) 232-2234

Section Chief Charles Schnepel
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District
701 San Marco Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32207-0019
phone: (800) 291-9405 or (904) 232-2234

Melinda Hogan
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Jacksonville District
701 San Marco Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32207-0019
phone: (800) 291-9405 or (904) 232-2234

Miles Croom
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
National Marine Fisheries Service
263 13th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
phone (727) 824-5301

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

Just an hour north of Tampa, Fillman Bayou supports some of the state's largest thriving seagrass beds, which supply habitat for fish, shellfish and the gentle Florida manatee. This life-giving seagrass is in danger, and the developer's application for the project fails to create viable seagrass damage mitigation, protection, restoration or monitoring procedures.

Further, by opening the bayou to hundreds of boats every day, manatees are likely to face increased boat strikes as they use the freshwater springs that feed the bayou.

Federal agencies and your elected officials need to hear from you now. Tell them not to allow the unnecessary mega-channel to slice through one of the last remaining coastal ecosystem on the Gulf Coast of Florida. 

---

Thank you for everything you do for animals!