One of the advantages of covering a beat like the environment for several decades is that it enables you to recognize deja vu when you hear it, all over again.

The recent U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to downlist manatees from an endangered to a threatened species on the federal level mirrors what happened in not-so-ancient Florida history.

Let’s play a little history game of then and now.

Then (2001)

The Coastal Conservation Association, a recreational boating group, petitions the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to reduce the imperiled status of manatees from endangered to threatened.

Now (2016)

Save Crystal River Inc., a recreational boating group, celebrates the success of its 2012 petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to reduce the imperiled status of manatees from endangered to threatened.

Then (2006)

The reclassification will not reduce protection measures. Manatees will continue to be federally protected under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and on a state level under the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. - Henry Cabbage, FWC

Now (2016)

The Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act are still in place. - Michael Oetker, deputy regional director for the USFWS in Atlanta.

All protections will remain in place in Florida. – Jim Valade, Florida manatee recovery coordinator for USFWS in Jacksonville.

Then (2006)

Manatees are no longer in imminent danger of extinction, but still have a very high risk of extinction. – Henry Cabbage, FWC

Now (2016)

The West Indian manatee no longer meets the definition of “endangered” and should be reclassified as “threatened.” – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 12-Month Finding on a Petition to Downlist the West Indian Manatee, and Proposed Rule to Reclassify the West Indian Manatee as Threatened.

Now let’s look at some quick historical numbers.

Then (1996)

Red tide killed 151 manatees.

Later (2013)

Red tide killed 277 manatees.

Then (2010)

Watercraft collisions killed 83 manatees.

Later (2015)

Watercraft collisions killed 87 manatees.

History repeats itself, as Mr. Booth at Manatee High School right here in Manatee County was fond of saying, and those who do not study history are bound to repeat it.

Remember when they raised the speed limit on the interstate from 55 mph to 65 mph? Now it’s 75 mph in some places? And everybody goes 10 mph faster regardless?

Even if the wildlife officials are right and the manatee slow speed zones remain in place, is it crazy to think that boaters, being occasional interstate drivers themselves, will go faster once they find out that manatees are no longer endangered, but merely threatened?

And won’t people like the CCA and Save Crystal River wait for the furor to die down after the downlisting, then file another petition, this time asking for some slow speed zones to be eliminated?

After all, there are more manatees than ever before, they will say, using FWC statistics, which for years have had an asterisk attached to them in press releases saying that the numbers are NOT accurate population counts and should not be reported as such, which seems particularly true of the 2015 count, which was done over three days, as opposed to all the other counts back to 1991 done over one or two days.

If we’re lucky, history will repeat itself, and an elected official like former Gov. Charlie Crist will step in and ask the USFWS to please consider adding common sense to the statistical equations in their 28-page proposal.

Or maybe democracy will prove once again that it works when people make their voices heard at: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FWS-R4-ES-2015-0178-0001 or head to Orlando for a public hearing on Saturday, Feb. 20, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Buena Vista Palace Conference Center, 1900 Buena Vista Drive in the Center's Great Hall to make their numbers seen.

What are you, as a Manatee County resident or visitor, prepared to do to keep manatees swimming in our waters?