Recently Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times wrote "Florida manatee deaths could reach record high," the yearly article about the plight of manatees in Florida waters. He made assumptions with statistics that boaters are killing them at record speed. His paper and the Miami Herald write annual reports stating boaters are the killers of manatees.

However, if you look at the numbers Pittman gave, he wrote, "Last year, because of the boat deaths, Red Tide and a prolonged cold snap, a total of 824 manatees died." In the start of his article, he proclaims that 122 manatee deaths last year were caused by boaters. This a less than 15% of the loss. Maybe the powers that be would not let this journalist blame the true killers of these gentle aquatic beasts.

Yes, the state of Florida has an epidemic and it is in our waterways. It's not the avid boat owners that cruise the intercoastal waters all year long. And even though boat ownership is on the rise, there is a higher percentage of environmentalist that own boats, then the carefree manatee killers represented in their articles.

The effects of the last eight years with a governor that cared more about business and less about the environment is now taking a toll on the innocent sea creatures as well as the tourist industry. Red Tide and Flesh-Eating bacteria are endangering the livelihood of much faster than a teen on a jet-ski.

Pittman does admit there is no valid trend except there are more manatees than ever before. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, manatees are increasing annually with the recent count of over 6,000. This is the third consecutive yearly increase. There are so many more surviving that they are no longer considered endangered but listed as threatened.

A few days later Scott Maxwell highlighted Pittman's article in his commentary. Of course, Maxwell's article was more entertainment sprinkled with information, yet he managed to alienate a large population of people in Florida. Not that his articles don't do that on a weekly basis. His article led to a conversation on a local radio talk show about the boating world. One of the hosts asked Maxwell to come on the show to discuss, yet he declined because he was just relaying the message and not an expert on the topic.

It isn't that boaters won't admit there are times when an accident with a manatee is bound to happen. They share the same waterways. Manatees don't understand that surfacing while a boat is over them will cause injury or death. In addition, boaters don't always see the creatures on the bottom or a boater will take that chance to move past them hoping they stay put. And yes, there are a few careless boaters, just like there are careless drivers. They break the law because there isn't a strict enough penalty for their actions or rather enough law enforcement on our waterways.

The discussion on the weekly https://worldofboating.com/ show insisted on the idea that boaters are purposefully aiming at manatees as inaccurate and pointed out that most environmental conservationists in Florida are boaters. The media pushes the envelope with this theory because they are an easy target. Florida does not want to admit that the chemicals being dumped into the waterways is killing wildlife and vegetation as well as damaging the tourist industries. Or that climate changes are another killer of manatees. Headlines blaming the boaters is an obvious ploy to divert the conversation from the ecological need to make severe changes.

Red Tide is a major reason manatee are dying. In the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 2019 Preliminary Manatee Mortality Report has statistics that show there is a trending increase in watercraft deaths, however, the deaths are in line with the 5-year average. Even though out of the 340 deaths reported, 93 deaths can be attributed to watercraft. Yet there is 118 listed as "Undetermined and Unrecovered," explaining that the manatee was too decomposed to determine its death. Perinatal and Cold Stress make 87 deaths, and 38 are listed as Natural. In 2018, there were 231 manatee deaths attributed to Red Tide.

In 1991 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began their recording of manatees. There were 1,267 manatees in the Florida waterways, with an average increase of 2% each year through February 2, 2019, totaling 5,733. With the highest number recorded in 2017 of 6,620 and the lowest drop recorded amount in 2002 totaling 1,758 manatees. And even though Red Tide began causing deaths in the past several years, the sea cows are still surviving.

Manatees are herbivores and the deadly toxins in Red Tide are not only consumed, they breath these toxins and they also cling to their bodies in the warm waters they inhabit. We enjoy the warm springs in our Florida water-ways, however, these gentle sea cows are the yearly residents. Keeping them pollutant-free and safe from anything or anyone who might harm them is every Florida resident's responsibility.