Florida’s Boater Freedom Act could harm the fisheries, critics say

The measure banning ship searches caused by water safety inspections is one of many new laws enacted in Florida this week.

The law ceases long-term practices that state and local maritime law enforcement agencies can stop sailors and board ships without any possible causes.

Gov. Ron Desantis said that the long-standing ship searching methods “created unnecessary friction” between sailors and law enforcement. The governor signed a bill called the Boater Freedom Act at a press conference in Panama City Beach in May.

“If you’re walking down the street, law enforcement can’t go to you and stop you and search for you,” DeSantis said. “But even so, on the water, that’s not really the case.”

Opponents of the measure say it will enforce fishing rules and remove the main tools to deter poachers – a random cooler search. They are concerned that fish populations that are carefully monitored by state biologists could then decrease.

DeSantis and state Sen. Jay Trumbull, a Panama City Republican who sponsored the bill, said he hopes for a different outcome. They predict that law enforcement will be able to spend more time and resources at their disposal than they can recklessly boat and chase after a few bad actors who are putting others at risk on the water.

“It’s about trusting the majority of Florida people who are doing the right thing and focusing on people who are really violating the law,” Trumbull said at the same news conference. “We haven’t removed surveillance. We’re strengthening our fairness.”

Under the law, “bag restrictions are irrelevant.”

For Matt DePaoris, director of environmental policy at the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation in southwestern Florida, the new law supports sailors’ rights to protect the state’s marine ecosystems.

“It’s so hard to catch someone with this act, so I’m really worried that it’s much easier to get away with poaching right now,” DePaolis said. “Having the ability to go and do simple checks seemed like an important enforcement mechanism.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a state agency tasked with managing fish populations by setting catch restrictions and seasonal lengths, is also responsible for supporting those rules through law enforcement. The agency has approved Desantis’ initiative and is expected to issue guidance on new laws.

Colonel Matthew Dararosa, supervisor of the Wildlife Agency’s Tampa Bay Area Branch, said he was not worried that the law would hinder the ability of officers to enforce marine regulations.

“We’ve always been doing regulatory inspections,” Dalarosa said. “We have adapted to a million changes. It hasn’t had a major impact.”

Depaoris said he hopes wildlife agencies will reduce bag limits if biologists observe population declines.

“If they’re confident that even this bill will properly manage fishermen’s stocks, that’s great,” he said. “But you’re probably worried that this is an important tool in managing healthy fisheries and stopping poaching that is currently being taken away.”

Alan S. Richard, former captain of the Wildlife Committee and an auxiliary professor of maritime law at Florida State University, recalls one of the 1984 safety tests.

The operation was not illegal, but it was suspicious, Richard said. He stopped the sailor and waited for the backup to arrive. Under the deck, US customs and border guards discovered £486 of cocaine.

“That wouldn’t have happened under this new law,” he said.

Richard called the measure “hate,” saying he expects it to be repealed at a future legislative meeting after lawmakers realised their mistake.

He was careful not to speculate on how wildlife agencies and county courts interpret the law, but he said it would make the job of executives even more difficult, whether protecting public safety, destroying drug runners or catching poachers.

The law undermines state conservation efforts, Richard added.

“If you can’t stop the boat and check, the bag restrictions are irrelevant,” he said.

Private lawyers defending those accused of fishing violations expect fewer charges filed and even fewer charges.

“We had clients… they caught something they shouldn’t,” said Ranger Jackson, Criminal Defence Counsel for Pinellas. “And if this law were in effect, it wouldn’t have been off the ground.”

However, Jackson said the fear that the law is giving sailors a “Cart Blanche” to catch “Whatever the illegal fish you want” is unfounded.

“If you are violating the law, if your registration is not up to date, if you are violating the wake zone, if you are pinned to something you shouldn’t be,” he said.

The search method appears to only apply to water enforcement. Wildlife officers are likely to maintain the ability to do random searches for public boat ramps and sailors returning to fishing from the coast, Jackson said.

“We have a valid guardrail,” he said.

Spring, sea grass was threatened

Environmental groups have problems with other parts of the law, including languages ​​that source standards for creating protective zones for springs that impose restrictions on speeds, fixed, mooring, beaches and grounded boats.

Under previous rules, wildlife agencies must prove that recreational boat use is damaging sensitive spring areas to limit boating. The new law makes it, so government agencies must now prove that there is “severe harm” and that the boat is the main cause of its damage.

It still has a calm effect on considering a conservation zone in the spring of North Florida after the wildlife agency took the law and pulled the proposal.

Other parts of the law precedes local governments from banning gas-powered boats from “selling or using” them. DeSantis cited California rules that seek to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 — blocked by the Senate in May.

Environmental Policy Director DePaolis said he was worried that the law could extend to abolish restrictions on boat engines on environmentally sensitive lands like manatee zones, sea grass beds and bird roofs.

“If you say you can’t distinguish between energy sources, then it seems you can’t create a canoe, kayak, paddle or an area dedicated to voyages,” he said. “So now, it’s really going to limit recreational capabilities.”

It is the ambiguous language of the bill, and its uncertain impact on fisheries and conservation gives a pause for depaoris.

“Boats are about freedom. Florida is about freedom. It’s great that you don’t have to worry about the police blowing your neck into yours,” he said. “At the same time, our environment is a shared resource and we have the tools to manage it. We need to be able to use those tools until we manage it effectively.”

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