Deadline Extended: Take Action Before December 18th To Stop Manatees Being Harassed At Three Sisters Springs And Make It A True Winter Sanctuary
 

Swimmers pursuing and touching a manatee mother and calf in Three Sisters Springs, a less than 1-acre critical winter habitat for endangered manatees. Click the image above or this link to watch our video. Please send your comments to crystalriver@fws.gov before December 18th and support Alternative B - Manatee Viewing from Land Only, to make Three Sisters a true winter sanctuary for endangered manatees. Remember that 600 acres of Kings Bay will remain open for in-water viewing opportunities.

Dear Friend,

Recognizing the well-documented fact that manatees have been prevented from entering into and driven out of their preferred warm water winter habitat at Three Sisters Springs in Citrus County, Florida, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has released a revised Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for Three Sisters Springs. The most recent Draft introduces a new Preferred Alternative, called Alternative D. This Alternative would still put snorkelers in the water inside Three Sisters. While fewer humans would be allowed in at once (13 vs. 29), more than 100 people per day would still be permitted to enter the spring,which will continue disrupting the manatees’ normal winter resting activities. The proposal will also continue to keep many manatees from using the warm-water refuge while driving others away and into colder water to avoid the swimmers and therefore will perpetuate continued manatee harassment. Keep in mind that Three Sisters Springs is less than 1 acre, and there are nearly 600 acres and many other places in Kings Bay that will still be available for swimmers and divers.

The FWS recently extended the comment period on the EA until December 18th, 2015. Sadly, the very act of extending the comment period for these newly proposed protections will likely mean that manatees will continue to be subjected to the chaotic harassment already acknowledged by the FWS to be both illegal and intolerable.

For more details, click here to review the Draft EA.

Related documents can be found here.

Click here to view Save the Manatee Club's most recent letter to FWS on this issue.


What You Can Do:

1. Please send a message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service letting them know that you still support Alternative B- Manatee Viewing from Land Only within this small but critically important winter refuge. Please submit comments via email to crystalriver@fws.gov before December 18th, 2015.
   
   We encourage you to include your own comments and let the FWS know why this issue is important to you. Whether you are a local resident, Florida resident, or a national or international visitor, it's important that you connect yourself directly to this community. If you have previously visited this community and spent money, or plan to do so in the future, and you support stronger manatee protections, please emphasize that in your comments. Otherwise, the agency and opponents of the proposal will try to dismiss your input.
   
   Here are some points you may wish to include in your message:
   
   
   • Thank the Service for recognizing that Alternative C would not have resulted in the necessary level of protection for manatees or allowed the agency to meet its legal obligations.
      
   • Express your continued support for Alternative B- Manatee Viewing from Land Only within Three Sisters Springs, since it is the most effective and easily manageable solution to protect manatees and create the needed level of certainty for the tourism industry. The boardwalk around the springs would allow visitors to observe manatees exhibiting natural behavior, undisturbed by human presence in the water.
      
   • Express your concern over this most recent delay, which leaves manatees subject to continued harassment. Remind the FWS that its rules from last year, which are still in effect, allow for emergency closures.
      
   • Ask the agency to exercise its legal authority for emergency closures of Three Sisters to protect manatees from the well-documented illegal take and harassment that occur here since manatees will be left unprotected in the meantime.
      
   • Manatee use of Three Sisters is highest when human use is lowest (Figure 5 in the November Draft). 
      
   • Disturbance is only truly minimized when no one is in the water. 
      
   • The Refuge Improvement Act states that the Refuge's mission is "focused singularly on wildlife conservation." 
      
   • Only Alternative B ensures equal access for all while also protecting manatees. 
      
   • Key holes should not be allowed to facilitate snorkeler access into any closed areas. 
      
   • The Service needs to get to work with stakeholders to develop improved standards of conduct for all of Kings Bay including a Bay-wide "no touch" policy.
      
    
2. Please help support our efforts to protect manatees in Three Sisters Springs and other areas they need for survival.

Thank you for helping to make Three Sisters Springs a True Winter Sanctuary for manatees!