Florida Anchoring Law Update

The Boaters' Rights Advocacy Coalition is a group of dedicated boaters associations representing more than 20,000 members committed to advocating for the rights of all active cruisers and boaters. Our mission is to ensure safe, equitable, and sustainable access to our public waterways. 

Here's how you can help protect anchoring on Florida's waterways:

Contribute to our Advocacy Fund. This fund helps pay our lobbyist in Florida. Without professional representation, we don't have a seat a the table. 

Contact the members of Florida's Senate Fiscal Policy Committee:

We are concerned that Senate Bill 594 will be added to the agenda for the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee the week of 4/14/2025. SB 594 could ban anchoring within 2,500 feet of Florida's Seaports and is purported to be a security measure, but there is no evidence of a security threat needing mitigation. Please email or call the Senators on the committee (see below) as soon as possible and share why you oppose the bill. 

Below some specific points regarding this bill for your use when calling or emailing. Please choose a few and tailor them to make your own.

• State Parks near several ports -- including the Ports of Everglades, Panama City, Fernandina, Fort Pierce, Pensacola, Key West, Tampa -- where anchoring is currently enjoyed are within the potential no-anchoring zones created by this bill.
• Common recreational anchoring areas are negatively affected in this bill. Fernandina, Port Canaveral, Ft Pierce, Lake Worth, Miami and Key West will lose much or all of their anchoring area.
• The setback is excessive, and is not supported by historical events or the water depths which are 10ft or less in some of the areas the bill would make off limits, making the ideal areas for us to anchor but not useable by cargo or cruise ships
• Port security concerns are not highlighted in publicly available minutes from meetings of the Ports Council, Port of Palm Beach, and Port of Miami.
• Generally, federal law controls the regulation of navigation, seaport security and other aspects of admiralty law in and upon the navigable waters of the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently determined that federal supremacy principles mandate that federal law preempts state and local government efforts to impose conditions on port entry that federal laws already cover. Federal law allows a state to regulate its ports and waterways, as long as the regulation is based on the peculiarities of local waters that call for special precautionary measures. We believe these waters do not call for special precautionary measures, and the state of Florida lacks jurisdiction in this matter. There is substantial case law that supports this assertion.
• The US Coast Guard (USCG) is the lead federal agency for maritime security and the primary enforcer of security zones around seaport facilities and vessels not the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission. The USCG issues security zone orders, conducts patrols and inspections, coordinates with other agencies and stakeholders, and responds to incidents and emergencies within security zones.

General Guidelines on Contacting Legislators:

• Email or phone are the best ways to reach a legislator. Letters are second best, but in our electronic world today everyone uses computers.
• Timing is very important. Don’t delay your email until after the bill has been passed. HB 481 will be heard in committee onWednesday aftermoon.
• Be polite and professional. Profanity will not help no matter how frustrated you may be.
• Address the email/letter as ‘Dear Senator xxx’ and ‘Dear Representative xxx’.
• Limit your me