Part of the draw to Indian Rocks Beach is its Intracoastal Waterway, lined with beautiful homes and filled with skiers and boaters.
But manatees apparently are drawn to the same area, too, which now has the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission planning on restricting water activity in an effort to protect them. The plan calls for shutting down water sports usage for jet skis and boats every April through October in the highlighted area.
But a lot of people including Indian Rocks Mayor R.B. Johnson say that’s being too restrictive.
“Rather than having all those basins excluded, that some of them should be opened up again where it's opened up to potential water sports usage,” said Johnson.
The city's proposal is to remove the restriction from the three northern basins so that people can enjoy the water, too.
“But this issue really comes down to nothing to do with manatees,” said resident Bob Griffin. “It has to do with taking away water rights of people have had since a hundred years ago.”
Griffin has lived along this waterway for 14 years, and he says there has to be a way for man and manatee to coexist.
“When I take my kids waterskiing, we go to those coves to get out of the main channel and also to find smooth water,” Griffin said.
A large group of residents made their concerns known to city commissioners earlier this week. They plan to give an earful to the FWC commission as well when they meet again.
“The FWC is very large,” Griffin said. “It's a government organization and I have no experience with that so I want to be optimistic but I just don't know.”
All he knows is, he'll keep boating until he's told not to.