Florida man hits manatee, has to give up boat

[jeffbare]

Florida man hits manatee, has to give up boat
Posted on February 03, 2011

In what is believed to be the first federal criminal prosecution in Florida for striking and killing a manatee with a boat, a Merritt Island man was sentenced Wednesday for killing the animal while zipping through a manatee slow zone.

Joseph Miata Jr., 62, who repeatedly had been cited for speeding through manatee zones, had to forfeit his 20-foot, $5,500 boat to the federal government and pay a $600 donation to a wildlife conservation group, the Florida Today newspaper reported.

"This is the first time that we're aware of that we ever prosecuted someone for a lethal take," Chuck Underwood, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the newspaper.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Orlando accused Miata in October of violating the Endangered Species Act. The manatee was killed as Miata sped through Sykes Creek last summer. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Baker sentenced Miata to one year of federal probation. He must forfeit the boat - a 1987 Mach 1 by Freedom Boats - that he was operating when he hit the manatee.

[clayinaustin]

He shouda slowed his punk ass down!

[rschap1]

Damn ole sea cows...

[Wrinkleface]

He shouda slowed his punk ass down!

cited repeatedly!!!! Dah!!! 1 of the sharper tools in the shed!!

[Gladhe8er]

Slow down A-hole!

[HateTank]

I wouldn't be the first to say that No Wake and Slow zones suck but rules are rules.We have a 15-20min idle before we can hammer it and I have friends who have as much as 35min.But its the same story,Manatees,Dolphins etc.Not to mention rattling everyone's dock off their sea wall.... We live on a Bayou connected to the river and have a 35mph speed limit so its game on once they clear the no wake zone and then they think their at Lake X..LOL!!!

[ROGUE]

Did he get to keep it and barbeque it? I would think that would be fair.

[Slandrew]

Manatee may have been drinking wonder if they checked?

[600sci]

I think $ 600 was not enough, should have been WAY more.

[Bobcat]

I'm so glad we do not have the manatee zones down here, could you imagine an hour's ride idling out to the Ocean? You know that sailboat guy's used to f*ck em....as did Stecz.

[rschap1]

Manatee may have been drinking wonder if they checked?

Dead Manatee fails sobriety tests
I can see it now

[600sci]

The reason for the Manatee zones are because that is where they are most of the time, so speeding in them and killing one is not a cool thing. I think of them as just an other living creature. You can see them if you slow down so there is absolutley no excuse for this. Are they native, NO but that does not mean we can go out and kill them. I hate those zones aswell but it does not give me the right to speed up, i hate school zones also and obey the rules. That is what rules are for. We all know how crouded it can be on a saturday out on the water, 40 % of the people ou there don't have a clue of what they are doing, an other 40 % are drunk and think they own the rights to do what ever they want and the rest are the people that have to suffer from actions like these, where rules are not followed! If you do follow the rules in live, it can be a great time out there.

[gcarter]

I agree we shouldn't be killing Manatee and Dolphin, but more than 50% of the annual deaths are caused by the state owned locks and flood gates. Next in line is Red Tide and such. We come in third, but we're the only ones that pay a price for it. I don't recall the state spending $M's for research to discourage mammals from entering locks and such.

[ItsPeanut]

He got what he deserved. Cited more than once, he got off easy.

[htrdlncn]

There was no Manatee zones 30-40 years ago,, and all the REAL facts
show that in the last 25-30 years all the zones have made ZERO effect
on the manatee population, most of the seriosuly hurt manatees are caused by
big slow moving barges and work ships with big propellors not by fast moving small boats,
on top of that Florida has spent MILLIONS on screwing with the natural order of things by making fake warm zones to the point of replacing power stations with heaters
to keep the manatees in areas where they would not ever be naturally.
Before you condemn read up and learn the real facts.
Its an enormous waste of taxpayer money and a contradiction of natural evolution..
4.5 MILLION dollars of our money to warm up the water for the Manatees even though
they should not be anywhere near there in cold weather..

Wonder how you'all would feel if they made you crawl across your lake/river
because of some made up BS about some fish that wasnt even supposed to be there..

More info on zones:
http://www.cffw.org/blog/index.cfm/2...ee-Creep-Zones

[600sci]

Stop drinking so much! If animals,no matter if sea cows or else don't mean anything to you then why are you still around? To hate everything that you don't understand? Rules are rules and we have to live by them so if anybody is not following them he has to deal with the outcome, simple as that.

[rschap1]

The reason for the Manatee zones are because that is where they are most of the time, so speeding in them and killing one is not a cool thing. I think of them as just an other living creature. You can see them if you slow down so there is absolutley no excuse for this. Are they native, NO but that does not mean we can go out and kill them. I hate those zones aswell but it does not give me the right to speed up, i hate school zones also and obey the rules. That is what rules are for. We all know how crouded it can be on a saturday out on the water, 40 % of the people ou there don't have a clue of what they are doing, an other 40 % are drunk and think they own the rights to do what ever they want and the rest are the people that have to suffer from actions like these, where rules are not followed! If you do follow the rules in live, it can be a great time out there.

The percentages you quote come from where?
Everyone knows 9 out of 10 statistics are made up

[600sci]

Living and playing on the water in Florida!

[Ratickle]

I don't think repeated speeding should be tolerated in a Manatee Zone.

Besides, they look a lot better in the water than some of the seacows I've seen on the beach......


Beach could use mandatory speeding law.....