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Management Activities

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Manatee Forum
For this fiscal year, the Manatee Forum met once in August to discuss the future direction of the Forum and to identify possible efforts that could be cooperatively undertaken.  During this meeting, discussions centered on the future work of the Forum.  The major focus of discussion concerned the potential loss of law enforcement positions due to state budget cuts.  All Forum members expressed support for maintaining law enforcement positions.  No other meetings were held during this fiscal year.  Forum members were provided copies of new publications related to manatees and notices of relevant information during the year.  The Forum members were active participants providing feedback to staff on the state’s Manatee Management Plan both with written comments and attendance at Commission meetings where the Plan was considered for approval.  The agency continues to believe in the importance of having a stakeholder group focused on manatee issues.  The benefit provided by the interactions among the members and with agency staff has been immeasurable and will continue in the future.

Federal Recovery Team Working Groups
In September 2007, the USFWS held a meeting to officially disband the federal Manatee Recovery Team.  During the meeting, an overview of accomplishments of the various working groups was presented.  The USFWS awarded all the members with certificates of appreciation for their work on the teams on behalf of manatee recovery.