The feds recently announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), “has established five former state manatee zones as an additional Federal Manatee Refuge in Lee County, Florida.”

State zones added to the federal register are in Matlacha Pass, Estero Bay, southwest of Pine Island, eastern San Carlos Bay and at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.

“The manatee refuge corresponds exactly with the previous state speed zones,” according to a FWS press release. Yet, there is one major difference between state and federal restrictions.

There are no provisions under federal law exempting licensed guides and commercial fishers from slow zones applying to the general public.

Exemption permits issued by the state of Florida are no longer valid in these federal refuge waters. Florida fishery mangers should also “can” the special exemption program elsewhere.

FS