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Hernando commissioners split after hours of public testimony on proposed Mud River manatee protection zone
Summary
A heated public hearing drew homeowners, tour operators and conservationists to argue the merits of converting segments of the Mud River and Weeki Wachee tributaries to slow‑speed/idle‑no‑wake. Commissioners asked staff to refine the boundary and survey affected residents before returning with a revised ordinance.
Hundreds of pages of testimony and a packed public gallery framed a contentious hearing on a proposed Manatee Protection Zone (MPZ) for the Mud River and Weeki Wachee tributaries. Carla Berman, Hernando County waterways manager, presented a draft boundary and told commissioners the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had supplied technical boundary language and supporting sighting data.
"We have a lot of data that shows manatees are in the estuary year‑round," Berman said, noting FWC tracking and public sighting reports that guided the draft. She said a transit down the segment in a pontoon showed idle speed would add roughly 18 minutes versus normal speed on the sampled run, underlining the tradeoff between safety and transit time. The board debated seasonal vs. year‑round speed limits and the geographic extent of any change.
Residents and local business owners split sharply. "It is a danger for us to even go half a block from our corner," said Linda Allen, who urged commissioners to install the speed humps the neighborhood requested and supported a local slow‑speed zone. By contrast, several tour operators, manatee researchers and Save the Manatee Club representatives stressed vessel strikes as a leading manatee mortality factor and urged protections. "Boat collisions are historically the primary cause of manatee deaths," said a local tour operator, pointing to statewide FWC research and local carcass recoveries.
Commissioners pressed for more data and for ways to reduce conflicts between resident boaters and visitors, including signage, channel markers and targeted enforcement. After debate, a motion to deny the draft MPZ ordinance failed; the board did not adopt the proposal but directed staff to refine the language, coordinate with FWC and return with a community survey focused on the neighborhoods most affected (the section north of the Weeki Wachee mouth). The item will appear again on a future agenda for further consideration.
