Since our first issue, Southern Boating has shared legislative information that is pertinent to the boating community. Such is the case with our posting of a letter about five Florida Senate House Bills related to anchoring and the restrictions they may cause if the new bills or those amending certain Florida Statutes are passed. They are currently known as HB481/SB866: Anchoring Limitation Areas; HB795/SB594: No Anchoring or Mooring Zones; HB1149/SB164: Vessel Accountability; HB1285/SB830: Disposition of Migrant Vessels; and SB1812: Derelict Vessels.
As noted in our recent online post on the topic, Southern Boating supports and respects individuals’ right to express their views, yet they do not necessarily reflect the views of Southern Boating. Likewise, the Boater’s Rights Advocacy Coalition has no association with the contributing writer of the original article posted online.
We encourage our readers to speak out constructively about issues that affect the boating community, from legislative bills to safety concerns and anything in-between. This sharing of information benefits all of us.
In response to the online article “The fight for Florida’s Waters: Why New Legislation Threatens Your Right to Anchor,” the Boaters’ Right Advocacy Coalition, a joint effort of four cruising organizations, America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association, Marine Trawler Owners Association, Seven Seas Cruising Association, and DeFever Cruisers, submitted the following information to clarify their perspective on the upcoming legislation.
Our more than 20,000 members are committed to the cruising lifestyle, and we advocate for boating safety and responsible use of our waterways. Here is the situation in the Florida legislature from our perspective. Five sets of bills have been filed in the legislature which affect boating and anchoring in Florida. These are discussed below.
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HB481/SB866. Anchoring Limitation Areas.
This bill restricts anchoring between additional islands in the Miami Beach area, extends the no-anchoring zone around marked mooring fields from 100 to 300 feet, and in counties with populations above 1.5 million people it prohibits anchoring for more than 4 hours during nighttime for more than 30 days in a six month period. There are four counties in Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward (Ft Lauderdale), Hillsborough (Tampa) and Palm Beach which are above or very close to this limit. The sponsor of this bill states that the challenges of congestion, environmental damage and safety are the reasons this bill is needed. We oppose this bill in its entirety.
Existing state law allows counties to establish Anchoring Limitation Areas (ALA) which restrict anchoring to 45 days within established areas. With few exceptions, the populous counties listed in this bill have made no attempt to establish ALAs within their county limits as allowed by existing state law. We recommend these counties establish ALAs as provided in existing laws before attempting to change the law.
There is a problem in Florida with derelict boats, and boats at risk of becoming so. But the problem is not the responsible boaters like us who would be impacted by this bill, and this bill does nothing to resolve derelict and at-risk boats. As of this writing there are no derelict boats reported in the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) database for the area of Miami Beach included in this bill. What we think is needed is better enforcement of existing statutes. If those statutes need to be changed to better enable enforcement we will support that effort, but we cannot support this bill.
HB795/SB594. No Anchoring or Mooring Zones.
This bill allows commercial seaports throughout Florida to propose to FWC to establish no-anchoring or no-mooring zones within up to 5,000 feet of seaport facilities. There are 16 commercial seaports in Florida, and analysis of these show this bill will significantly impact recreational boaters at 6 of these seaports: Fernandina, Port Canaveral, Ft Pierce, Palm Beach (Lake Worth), Miami and Key West. This analysis data has been provided to legislators through our lobbyist. We oppose this bill as written.
A review of publicly available seaport meeting minutes shows no evidence of security concerns. We note that existing federal law establishes a 100-yard (300 foot) moving security zone around passenger vessels and vessels with hazardous cargo and a 500-yard (1,500 foot) security zone around military vessels. It is clear the 5,000-foot distance is the problem with this bill. Analyses of other no-anchoring distances been provided to legislators through our lobbyist, and we may reconsider our opposition to this bill if reasonable changes to the no-anchoring zone distances are adopted.
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HB1149/SB164. Vessel Accountability.
This bill establishes a permit process for long-term anchored boats, that is, boats anchored in one position for 14 days out of any 30-day period. The permits are free of charge, and are specific to the vessel, owner and anchored location. No sticker or registration number must be displayed after registration, and the penalties for failing to register are quite stiff. The penalties make a second no-compliance citation a felony, and the bill streamlines the process for law enforcement removal of derelict and public nuisance boats. This bill is longer than 30 pages, touches 13 existing statutes, and it is evident the bill writer did an enormous amount of work on this bill. An amendment to this bill has been filed in the Senate mandating on-line application and permitting, and with that amendment we fully support this bill. We believe this bill goes a very long way towards reducing derelict boats in Florida.
Long-term anchoring permits are a benefit to FWC. They enable tracking long-term anchored boats to owners, gives FWC statistical data on long-term anchored boats, and enables FWC to easily send storm notifications to owners of long-term anchored boats. We believe it is the intent of this bill to automate the application process for these permits, thus avoiding increased workload for FWC.
Some people have alleged that this bill empowers local governments to establish stricter anchoring zones in heavily impacted regions. This is not true, and there is no provision in this bill that empowers local governments.
HB1285/SB830. Disposition of Migrant Vessels
This bill defines “irregularly constructed vessels”, and “migrant vessels”, as irregularly constructed or equipped vessels which are commonly used by migrants to enter the US. This bill also establishes a framework for disposal of these and other public nuisance vessels. We believe this bill has no impact to responsible boat owners, and we support this bill.
SB1812. Derelict Vessels.
This bill adds the failure to obtain Florida registration to the criteria for declaring a vessel derelict. It also mandates that a vessel owner must provide proof of substantial repairs to the boat that is in a wrecked, junked or substantially dismantled condition. A companion bill in the House has not been filed yet.
One of the problems reported by law enforcement is difficulty determining ownership of derelict vessels. Current law requires notification to the vessel owner before initiating remediation of the derelict vessel. Adding failure to register the vessel to the definition of derelict vessels streamlines the process for law enforcement. We support this bill.
We hope this clarifies our position on these bills. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification. We believe the bills we support will help reduce the derelict boat problem in Florida and enable better enforcement of existing statutes that benefit all responsible boaters.”
Our website is at boatersrightscoalition.org, and we encourage your readers to visit that site for more information.
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