East Coast Off Shore Speed Limit

[Maggie Glover]

I know that manatee is a four letter word in FL, and more than once in SC, when one was spotted, they imposed speed limits (no wake) in that area. That affects .001 of the population and allows SCDNR to get involved. MG

[jasonw]

Yes!! Please require smaller vessels to slow down in waters that have calves! This does strip personal freedoms from some people, but the vast majority of Americans do NOT own, operate or travel in boats.

A tiny fraction of Americans that enjoy boating, do NOT have the right to destroy our ecosystems, changing the balance of nature and cause the extinction of an animal species.

I think you copied that straight from the comments section on the NOAA site, but my response to that would be that they:
1) Prove the number of calves killed by planing hull recreational vessels
2) Show me the actual match\projections of the number of whales this law will save. I want to see the actual number and how they got there. Also compare night time navigation versus daylight hours. That has to be based on historical deaths caused by small vessels, and the assumption that only a fraction of those lives will be saved.
3) Show me that this projection will be of material number based on the fact that 2/3rds of the whales die in Canada or from "fishing gear entanglement"
4) Explain to me that if "every life matters" why we don't rush to implement a nation wide speed limit on our roadways to 10mph to prevent automobile deaths. I mean, FFS, do whales matter more than children? Explain to me how the 42,915 people that died in automobile accidents last year matter LESS than these whales? Do they not care about the kids? They value animal life over human life. PERIOD. Also, there would be unequivocal evidence that a nationwide speed limit would save lives. So, why not do it?

[bitesize]

4) Explain to me that if "every life matters" why we don't rush to implement a nation wide speed limit on our roadways to 10mph to prevent automobile deaths. I mean, FFS, do whales matter more than children? Explain to me how the 42,915 people that died in automobile accidents last year matter LESS than these whales? Do they not care about the kids? They value animal life over human life. PERIOD. Also, there would be unequivocal evidence that a nationwide speed limit would save lives. So, why not do it?

This is what frustrates me the most- we have bigger issues at hand than worrying about/ wasting resources protecting a damn whale! People need to pull their damn heads out of the sand and take notice to what's going on around them and stop focusing on irrelevant bullshit!

[jasonw]

AND FFS... It there are only 300 whales, it's CHEAPER to tag them all with AIS and any vessel with a modern GPS will know where they are all the time.

[jasonw]

This is what frustrates me the most- we have bigger issues at hand than worrying about/ wasting resources protecting a damn whale! People need to pull their damn heads out of the sand and take notice to what's going on around them and stop focusing on irrelevant bullshit!

Problem is that these are driven by private agencies. World Wildlife Fund is something like $250M a year agency with half billion in assets.

Compare that to the CCA which has about $15.7M in annual revenue.

[DG34YF]

Not my pic, because it's probably illegal to photo it.
A month in Cudjoe Key we saw this up many days.
Oh they'll see us if it's going to bring in revenue & justify their budget.

cudjoe.jpg

[Southernduck]

AND FFS... It there are only 300 whales, it's CHEAPER to tag them all with AIS and any vessel with a modern GPS will know where they are all the time.

They don't have a clue how many whales are out there so stop making sense.

This is 100% about control.

[JABIII]

This is 100% about control.

Yep. Control of the food supply to be specific…

[First Coat]

Not my pic, because it's probably illegal to photo it.
A month in Cudjoe Key we saw this up many days.
Oh they'll see us if it's going to bring in revenue & justify their budget.

cudjoe.jpg

I was just down fishing around Pig Pine and Cudjoe for 2 days, say a "blimp" both days. I guess it was that one but it looked bigger to me.

[jasonw]

It's not about "Control". You guys read too many conspiracy theory websites. This is about politics. He who has the most money buys the most politicians. WWF has the most money.

And I contend that this is the natural evolution of governments. Everything always trends towards socialism. It's the battle of the "haves" versus the "have nots". The masses keep voting for the people promising the most "free things". It's the reason why we were supposed to be a constitutional republic because the forefather's knew this. The problem is, it's eroded over time. The "haves" are the few and the protection might have lasted for a couple hundred years, but that's falling apart. Social media and the internet is the nail in the coffin. Information and propaganda is even more readily amplified at the speed of light.