Page A16 www.coastalbreezenews.com Jul 29 - Aug 11, 2011

DaVinci’sClassical ly Dis t inct ive. . . Natur al ly I t al ian!

NEW LUNCH SPECIALSMONDAY

Baby Shrimp Parmigiana served over Penne in tomato

sauce with a house salad

TUESDAYChicken Marsala served

over Linguine with a house salad

WEDNESDAYBaked Rigatoni with eggs

and peas in bolognese sauce with a house salad

THURSDAYVeal and Peppers served

over Penne in tomato sauce with a house salad

FRIDAYTilapia Piccata served over Angel Hair with a

house salad

SATURDAYChicken Pizzaiola served

over Linguine with a house salad

ONLY $7.95!The Best Authentic Italian Cuisine!

Private Room for your Special Event!

Delight your Palate with our LatestMenu Additions!

Tasty Sushi Creations!

Complete Lunch Specialsfor only $7.95!

The Only Wood-Burning Pizza Oven in Marco!

Open for Lunchand Dinner!

Local DJ Plays Great MusicEvery Friday & Saturday NightCome Join the Party!

WHY US?

A Heart -Warming Family AmbianceJoin us for the perfect dining experience at the Marco Walk Plaza, across from the Hilton • 239.389.1888 • www.ristorantedavinci.com

L ove them or hate them, the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus lat-irostris), a subspecies of the West

Indian Manatee, is in our waters and has been for millions of years. Love them? Most people do love them and seek them out to view for their unique characteris-tics – large, gray, sausage-shaped marine mammals with big flippers and a paddle for a tail, slowly moving and grazing through the Florida waters. Hate them? Hate is a strong feeling, but it mostly has been ex-pressed when a slow speed, idle speed or no entry manatee protection zones are established for boating by the state of Florida. Millions of years? Yes, evidence in museums display forty-five-million-year-old animal fossils from the manatee fam-ily that were found in Florida. Florida’s native Indians created ceremonial pipes in the form of manatees and manatee bones have been found at refuse sites and in In-dian mounds. Writers and explorers from the early nineteenth century commented that West Indian Manatees were “found in large numbers” and were “remarkably abundant”. Pioneers documented killing manatees for meat, oil and hides, but by 1893, Florida passed protection laws that made it illegal to hunt for manatees, even though poaching of these large animals continued throughout the Great Depres-sion and World War II because of a short-age of meat.

As Florida developed and became more populated, of course, more coastal construction and boats became part of the landscape. It is not hard to compre-hend why Florida has more boats than any other state. The first report of mana-tee deaths by boat collision was in 1943. Building on the first protective laws of no hunting, in the early 1980s, speed zones and no entry zones were established by Florida via the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act (Chapter 370.12(2), Florida Statues.) This Act declared Florida to be a refuge or sanctuary for the manatee and declared it as “Florida’s state marine mammal.” This Act authorized the Florida Fish and Wild-life Conservation Commission (FWC) to adopt rules that regulate speed and opera-tion of motor vessels to protect manatees from death due to collision and from ha-rassment. FWC can also designate habi-tat, such as sea grass beds, as safe havens for manatees to rest, feed, reproduce, give birth and nurse their young while undis-turbed by human activity.

The Florida Manatee is also listed un-der the 1973 federal Endangered Species Act. This Act provides the mechanism to conserve ecosystems and habitat that sup-

port the manatee and further increase pro-tection by making it illegal to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill capture or collect. If you see a manatee or it’s “foot-print” on the water surface, a vessel should avoid its path; turn off engine and drift to enjoy the manatee, staying 50 feet from the animal. Any closer is harassment. Mana-tees do not need to be fed or watered. Being vegetarian, they munch sea grasses and get fresh water from the food they eat. It may be amusing to offer a hose to a manatee for a drink of fresh water, but it does change their natural behavior and puts them in harm’s way of boats and their props.

Why all this protection and what is the economic impact of protecting manatees? $1.50 from every registered vessel in the State is transferred to Save the Manatee Trust Fund and is used for specific pur-

poses, such as population census, research and education. Some say this fee and post-ing the speed zones, maintenance and en-forcement of the zones is over the top. But these protected zones have helped stabilize the population numbers and have lowered the number of boat collisions resulting in death. Another benefit that is financially important to Florida is the protected mana-tee habitats also guarantee a healthy ma-rine habitat for other economically impor-tant species such as commercial fish, game fish, crustaceans, sea turtles and other ani-mals. They all depend on sea grasses and good water quality conditions to flourish.

Manatees are unique animals; some would say an irreplaceable national trea-sure as they are a one of a kind species in North America. It is up to residents and vis-itors of Florida to ensure that this species and its diverse natural habitat are around for many generations to come. Marco Is-land has a healthy year round population of manatees. Let’s love them, but not to death.

Please report any sightings of harass-ment (feeding, touching, circling with ves-sel), distressed, injured or dead manatees by calling the FWC Wildlife Alert number at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922). For more in-formation, stickers or boat banners, please contact Nancy Richie, Environmental Spe-cialist, City of Marco Island at 239-389-5003 or nrichie@cityofmarcoisland.com.

Amazing ManateesPROTECTING &

PRESERVING

Nancy RichieNRichie@cityofmarcoisland.com SUBMITTED PHOTO

Baby Manatee being prepped for release.Mother Manatee swims away when re-leased.

It takes a community – Last year, FWC brought down a mother and baby manatee for re-lease at the Calusa Marina. The manatees had been at Mote Marine Lab recovering from cold stress. The volunteers used “hammocks” to carry the manatees down the boat ramp and release in the water.