Repeat Offender Loses His Boat, Pays $600 for Killing Manatee

A Merritt Island boater repeatedly cited for violating Manatee Protection Speed Zones in Brevard and Volusia counties was sentenced Wednesday for killing a West Indian manatee.

After a joint investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Joseph F. Miata Jr., 62, was criminally charged by the U.S.attorneys office with killing a manatee and violating the federal Endangered Species Act.

Miata pled guilty and was sentenced to one year federal probation and required to make a $600 donation to a wildlife conservation organization. U.S. Magistrate David A. Baker also ordered Miata to forfeit to the government the boat he was operating when he killed the manatee.

According to witnesses, Miata was operating his boat at full plane through a Slow Speed Manatee Protection Zone last summer when he struck the sea cow, a lactating female with an approximately 10-month-old calf at her side.

Miata had been cited less than two months earlier for speeding through a manatee zone and was also cited by USFWS Manatee Refuge officers for the same violation on a previous occasion.

To report illegal activities involving fish or wildlife in Florida call the FWCs toll-free Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922). Tipsters may remain anonymous and are eligible for a reward if their information leads to arrest.