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*gasp shock horror* D: I used to work with manatees at an aquarium!
Actually I don't think it's unreasonable to want to eat manatees (makes sense, sea cows and all) but it would be better if they could simply get the meat from already dead/unrescuable manatees that boats kill, instead of killing more.
I'm also not too fond of the idea of growing a bunch of manatees in captivity. First of all, that kind of defeats the purpose of conservation (we focus on saving the manatee because by saving its habitat we also save smaller less obvious but just as endangered organisms living in the same environment). Secondly they are not exactly like cows or other farm livestock. Cows are different, we bred them to be like that, and the kind we normally eat can't survive long in the wild. The manatees we have in the wild are meant to be in the wild--in addition, if you raise them the same way people farm shrimp, you're going to get a lot of toxic stuff leaking out into the oceans and killing everything else in that surrounding area. Large scale manatee farms aren't a good idea.
Best thing would be to raise the manatee population back up to a healthy, sustainable level and then let people eat them, in limited quantities. Also, get rid of stupid idiots that drive motor-boats drunk trying to hit everything in the water.