MANATEES IN FLORIDA: 2001Continued by Thomas H. Fraser, Ph.D
APPENDICES NOTE: Contact
Amy Harlee Author Tom Fraser is a partner with the environmental and marine consulting firm of W. Dexter Bender & Associates, Inc.,2052 Virginia Avenue, Fort Myers, Florida 33901. He has lived in Florida for more than 46 years. He went to Sarasota High School, Florida State University, and the University of Miami and has an M.S. and Ph. D. in Marine Biology. He received a Smithsonian Post-Doctoral Fellowship for work on cardinal fishes at the National Museum of Natural History. He is author or co-author on 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Governor Graham appointed Tom to the Florida Marine Fisheries Commission in 1986. He was re-appointed by Governor Martinez in 1989 and served through 1993. He served as Chairman of the Commission for four years. Tom served on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's external peer review panel in 2000 for the petition to reclassifying the common snook from a species of special concern to unlisted. WDBA was directly involved in the first significant State rule for a manatee shore-line buffer slow-speed zone for 17 miles of the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County. This rule was approved in 1991. Tom was the manatee consultant to Lee County, Florida during the revisions to the existing speed zones by the State which added about 40 square miles of regulation to the existing 20 square miles of zones. He was directly involved in developing the manatee shore-line buffer slow-speed zone ordinance which was approved in August 2000 by Hillsborough County. He has had, and, is working with a number of marina projects that must address manatee protection issues. |
