OUR WATERWAYS
By Steve Morrell
Florida Sea Grant Paper on Anchoring & Navigation in Florida Florida Sea Grant released a paper in March titled “Government Regulations and the Rights of Navigation in Florida.” It represents the third edition of a report on the subject. In the beginning, under “Author’s Note,” the subject of the paper is summarized with the following statement: This represents the third edition of this analysis of the federal, state, and local government law that surrounds the practice of anchoring on the navigable waters of the state of Florida. While there has been little change in the federal law since the first edition in 1999, Florida law, particularly statutory law, has undergone two significant revisions, first in 2006, and again, more comprehensively, in 2009. In both cases the Florida legislature has modified the key provision that includes the term “navigation” for purposes of local regulation of anchoring. And in both cases the legislature has sought to reconcile the conflicting state, local, and boater interest in that basic attribute of navigation – anchoring. This third edition describes the current state of the law in Florida. In addition, we have newly included a brief “taxonomy” of vessels while they are on the water, and a brief review of “rights of navigation” under international law, as they apply to anchoring. The paper is hardly a dry academic piece, with the follow-
ing opening paragraph in the introduction: It’s official! The U.S. Coast Guard’s recommended equipment list has been revised. Now, in addition to anchors, fire extinguishers, emergency signals and personal flotation devices, American boaters are advised to pack a lawyer. No truer words could be spoken. This report is very thorough and covers every subject from international to federal, state and local jurisdiction over anchoring rights. Anyone who is interested in being knowledgeable on the subject should read this 49-page document. It is divided into four main sections, the first being the introduction, the first chapter of which presents definitions, but chapter two jumps right into the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and how that affects navigation and anchoring in the United States. Section II is titled “Federal Authority: Concurrent State Jurisdiction and the Reservation of Federal Navigational Rights.” This section includes an extensive discussion on federal (both constitutional and statutory) authority and how it interacts with state law over anchoring and anchorages. It covers approximately one-quarter of the whole report. The section also covers other states and their approaches to local boating regulation. It states the following: In the most common approach, the state preempts local regulatory authority and then returns it upon petition by the local government, usually after review for policy consistency by the state agency charged with boating management. Section III, titled “State and Local Authority over Anchoring and Anchorages,” is a discussion of state law and how it interacts with local authority, with the main emphasis on Florida law. Since the report was released in March, it brings us right up to date with a discussion of the current FWC pilot program on regulation of mooring fields. The report ends with a discussion of “The Southwest Florida Regional Harbor Board”—a board that was created in 1995 to “resolve conflicts that arose from inconsistent local government regulation of anchorages.” The board’s approach was non-regulatory and offered advice on harbor management in certain anchorages, along with emphasizing boater education to minimize environmental impact and promote safety, while maintaining the “widest possible degree of freedom for boaters...” The appendix includes a list of the board’s “Principles of Anchoring,” which includes basics, such as being aware of coral and sea grass, and respect of local laws, such as noise ordinances. The article can be viewed and downloaded by going to www.flseagrant.org, clicking on Resources, then Publications and then paging down (or do a keyword search for “government regulations”) to the publications under the section titled Waterfront Communities. SOUTHWINDS also has a link on its “Waterways” pages at www.southwindsmagazine.com.
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July 2011
SOUTHWINDS
www.southwindsmagazine.com