Florida Space Coast

S

Scuba Josh

Newbie
Aug 13, 2005
1
0
Hello,

I am a Professional Land Surveyor and Mapper in The State of Florida on the Space Coast.
I would love to scuba North of Chucks Steak House, out of Mel's Lease and use my Detector
I have a good understanding of Boundary law , Riparian rights, Seaward limits of States and so on.
So like a good diver I went to the state web site and did my research and as everbody here knows
could not get a clear answer if i can or not. (and if I find the good stuff and keep it will I go to prison)
can any one HELP

Thanks
 

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Josh, first of all welcome to the forum. The area that you are talking about (from Chucks north to the NASA tracking station); I believe is still under a search lease by the Fisher organization. As I understand it, this does not prohibit you from diving any ware in that area. However, if you were to make a major discovery in this area you would not be able to file an Admiralty arrest for a recovery lease, as the Fisher organization has exclusive rights under the search lease.
Additionally, the State of Florida has discontinued the isolated finds program effective the first of June 2005. What this means is that any find over 50 years old in the States submerged bottom land technically belongs to the State, and can only be recovered under the terms of a state issued recovery lease. Under the new state statute it is a class A misdemeanor to remove any of these artifacts.
Many of us are very upset with the State and the DHR for ending the isolated finds program. That program allowed for us to recover items from the bottom in exchange for our providing the location and other details about the find.
I am afraid that most underwater treasure hunters will continue to recover these artifacts, and the DHR will louse out on lots of valuable data. I have been hearing rumblings from many that they will continue to recover artifacts, and claim that they were discovered on the beach after the next big storm rips up the coast.

Q
 

You know I would argue the new "submerged lands" law. I suspect that was a deal struck between the salvors and the state.
1st of all, let's consider the true definition of "submerged lands".

Area from the tide line out are not necessarily submerged lands. I know of no proof that any of Florida's coastline has "sunk" into the ocean.
And the last time Florida had a coastal earthquake and tidal wave....? Hmm.

Yep, I bet this one could be argued at the Federal Level.

To get the facts on how all this came about and who initiated it, you need to get what are called "committee notes" from the Legislature.
Many folks don't know about "committee notes". These are the originating discussions about a new bill , what it should entail, and what the legislative "Intent" is of making the new law. Good to use when a judge may be "misinterpreting the law".

Sheila
 

Sheila,

Did Florida just change it's definition of submerged lands, or introduced a new law? If so, it slipped past my guard.

You are right about committee notes, but most of these cannot be accessed in electronic format. Do you have any links that point to the laws you mention?

Thanks,

Mariner
 

Having dealt with riparian rights issues, maybe I can clarify something. All "submerged" lands means the bottom of natural "navigable" waterways, such as rivers, lagoons, streams, etc. These lands are owned by the people of Florida, and overseen by some trustees in the state. Docks are on state property technically, usually..thus the state gives permission (thru the corps of engineers/DNR) for construction of docks. Having just written this, now I'm not sure why beaches wouldn't possibly fall in this category of isolated finds. ??

BTW, I wuz in Salt Lake City area last week, lotsa natural terrain that has some GOLD in it. What are the guidelines for detecting in the west??
 

WD 1715,

Thanks for the set of links, but I don't see anything suggesting that Florida has changed its definition of submerged lands. Have I missed something?

Mariner
 

I don?t think you have missed a thing! The only change that I am aware of is that of the isolated finds program being put in the scrap heap. Other than that, Billinstuart stated the definition of submerged bottom lands very well. I think itmaiden is actually referring to the isolated finds program as it relates to the submerged bottom lands.

Q
 

Sorry to mislead you guys, just playing on what submerged lands should really mean. Ocean bottom is ocean bottom in my book.

Anyway, I called the Historical division for Florida, and got transfered around several times, and still did not get a hold of the one guy who knows the real scoop on the new law. One guy I talked to said one of the things that led to it was that persons seeking Indian artifacts were using water mining techinues basically to "wash" the artifacts into the river, so they could "recover" the finds from the river and thus not be in violation of disturbing Indian Mounds/Archeological sites.

I've searched and searched for specifics on this law. Guess I am going to just have to make a trip down to the library this week to see amendments and new bills.

I think they will use it primarily to stop those who are abusing important sites. If they want to arrest individual treasure hunters that is going to diminsh 1/2 of the economy and beachgoers on the Treasure Coast, cause when I am out there, all I see is wall to wall treasure hunters, and an occasional foreign tourist (who usually bring their metal detectors ;)

My concern is a new method I wanted to use treasure hunting, and now I am concerned after clearing it with the Sheriffs office that the new law may ban my new method of finding stuff...which was designed to get around other existing restrictions...hmm.
Can only chance it huh ? Can't be any worse than getting a parking ticket.
 

A first degree misdemeanor in Florida could land you in jail for up to one year, forfeiture of all items recovered, and possibly any treasure hunting equipment used to recover the ill-gotten gains. >:(
 

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