Definitions, Placement of Markers, Additional Specifications for Information and Regulatory Markers

FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION
Vessel Registration and Boating Safety

Rule No.: RULE TITLE
68D-23.103: Definitions
68D-23.104: Placement of Markers
68D-23.109: Additional Specifications for Information and Regulatory Markers

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 36 No. 21, May 28, 2010 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

The following reflects proposed rule changes intended to clarify and improve the organization within the rule as approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, sitting as agency head, at its public meeting held on June 23-24, 2010, in Winter Park, Florida

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULES IS:

68D-23.103 Definitions.

For purposes of this chapter and Chapters 68C-22 and 68D-24, F.A.C., the following definitions shall apply:

(1) Types of markers:

(a) “Aid to navigation” means any device external to a vessel intended to assist a navigator to determine position or safe course, or to warn of dangers or obstructions to navigation.

(b) “Information marker” means a device external to a vessel intended to provide the mariner with information concerning matters other than dangers or obstructions to navigation, or regulatory matters.

(c) “Danger marker” means a device external to the vessel intended to provide the mariner with information concerning dangers or obstructions to navigation such as shoals, shallows, rocks, submerged pipes or cables, dams, or low clearance obstructions above the water such as power lines, trestles, or bridges.

(d)(c) “Regulatory marker” means a device used to alert the mariner to various regulatory matters such as horsepower, speed, wake, or entry restrictions.

(e)(d) “Special mark” means a marker not primarily intended to assist safe navigation, but to indicate special areas or features referred to in charts or other nautical publications. They may be used, for example, to mark anchorages, mooring fields, park boundaries, cable or pipeline areas, marine events, etc. Special marks are colored solid yellow.

(f)(e) “Mooring buoy” means a device that is permanently secured to the bottom of a body of water and to which a vessel may be secured when not underway.

(g)(f) “Buoy” means any device designed to float which is anchored in the waters of the state and which is used to convey a message, carry a sign, or support a mooring pennant.

(h)(g) “Sign” means an object which displays a message and which is attached to another object such as a piling, buoy, structure, or the land itself.

(i)(h) “Symbol” means the orange geometric shape displayed on a danger, information, or regulatory marker. The meanings associated with the orange geometric shapes are as follows:

1. through 4. No change.

(j)(i) “Display area” means the area on danger, information or regulatory marker within which the symbol is displayed.

(2) General definitions:

(a)(j) “Boating-restricted area” means an area of the waters of the state within which the operation of vessels is subject to specified restrictions or from which vessels are excluded.

(b)(k) “Shore” means that area of land immediately adjacent or contiguous to the waters of the state such that a sign or marker erected thereon is readily visible to the operator of a vessel who might reasonably believe that the sign or marker displays navigational, regulatory or other information relevant to the operation of the vessel.

(c)(l) “Florida Intracoastal Waterway” means:

1. All waters within the right-of-way of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Georgia state line north of Fernandina to Miami; the Port Canaveral lock and canal to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway; the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Miami to Key West; the Okeechobee Waterway Route 1 across Lake Okeechobee and Route 2 along the southern perimeter of the lake, from Port Mayaca to Clewiston; the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Anclote to Fort Myers; the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Carrabelle to Tampa Bay; the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Carrabelle to Anclote open bay section (using the Gulf of Mexico); and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Carrabelle to the Alabama state line west of Pensacola; and

2. All waters from shoreline to shoreline within the Okeechobee Waterway, Stuart to Fort Myers, not including Route 1 across Lake Okeechobee and Route 2 along the southern perimeter of the lake, from Port Mayaca to Clewiston; the St. Johns River, Jacksonville to Sanford; and, the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint Rivers in Florida.

(d)(m) “Uniform State Waterway Marking System” means the system of aids to navigation, information markers, regulatory markers, and mooring buoys, as specified in Part 66 of Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(e)(n) “United States Aids to Navigation System” means the system of aids to navigation, information markers, regulatory markers, and mooring buoys, as specified in Part 62 of Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(f)(o) “Private Aid to Navigation” means an aid to navigation the establishment of which is authorized by a permit issued by the United States Coast Guard pursuant to Part 66 of Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

(g)(p) “Maritime property” means vessels and their engines, tackle, gear, equipment, appurtenances, furnishings, cargoes, stores, personal property then on board belonging to the vessels’ occupants, and such other similar property as is consistent with the general maritime law of the United States. This definition does not include littoral or riparian property, the shores thereof, seawalls, docks, wharfs, or other property intentionally and permanently attached to the shore.

(h)(q) “Inland lake” means a naturally occurring or man-made fresh water lake or pond. The term does not include reservoirs, impoundments, or any portion of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway.

(i)(r) “Associated canal” means a man-made canal that is directly attached to an inland lake and that does not connect to other waters or that connects only to another inland lake. The term does not include any portion of a state or federally funded navigation project or any portion of the Florida Intracoastal Waterway.

(j)(s) “In writing” means any written or printed form of communication and includes electronic mail, files transferred as attachments to electronic mail, and telefacsimiles.

(3)(2) When used on markers, the terms:

(a) through (e) No change.

(f) “Vessel-exclusion zone” means an area from which all vessels or certain classes of vessels are excluded. The following list includes the most common examples of vessel exclusion zones. Whenever the following messages are displayed on vessel-exclusion zone markers, they have the meaning provided. Other messages on vessel-exclusion zone markers are permissible, so long as the markers display language that accurately describes the vessels or classes of vessel that are excluded from the area. All vessel-exclusion zones must be marked with the crossed-diamond symbol as specified in subparagraph (1)(i)(h)2., above.

1. through 4. No change.

(g) through (i) No change.

(4)(3) The Boating and Waterways Section will authorize the use of other terminology on regulatory markers if the message is clear, unambiguous, and accurately describes a lawfully imposed restriction.

Rulemaking Authority 327.04, 327.40, 327.41, 327.46, 379.2431 FS. Law Implemented 327.40, 327.41, 327.46, 379.2431 FS. History– New 12-23-01, Amended 10-5-06,_________.

 

(Substantial rewording of Rule 68D-23.104 follows. See Florida Administrative Code for present text.)

 

68D-23.104 Permits Required; Application for Permits.

(1) Except as provided in subsection 68D-23.112(4), F.A.C., no person, municipality, county or other governmental entity shall place, cause to be placed, or maintain in place any marker in, on or over the waters of the state or the shores thereof without a permit from the Boating and Waterways Section.

(2) Any person, municipality, county, or other governmental entity desiring to place a marker shall apply to the Boating and Waterways Section on the Florida Uniform Waterway Marker Application form, FWCDLE 153 (0704/2010), which is adopted and incorporated herein by reference. Application forms may be obtained by submitting a request to: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Division of Law Enforcement, Boating and Waterways Section, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600 or by downloading the application from the Commission webbiest at: http://www.myfwc.com/RECREATION/boat_waterways_index.htm. Each application must include:

(a) One or more scale drawings no larger than 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, reproducible on standard office photocopying equipment, showing the intended locations for the placement of all proposed markers with each proposed marker labeled to correspond to the list required in paragraph (b) below.

1. If the application is for regulatory markers, the drawing must also depict the exact boundaries of the area within which regulation or restriction is to be in effect.

2. If the application is for the following information markers the drawing must also depict:

a. The location of the danger, hazard to navigation, or obstruction if the application is for a danger marker, isolated danger mark, or inland waters obstruction mark the drawing must also depict.

b. Water depths within and adjacent to the area being marked if the application is for lateral marks, preferred channel marks, or safe water marks.

c. The location and boundaries of the anchorage, mooring field, park, cable or pipeline area, marine event, or other special area or feature for which the markers are proposed if the application is for special marks.

d. Any information needed to identify and support the proposed information marker.

3. If the application is for mooring buoys of any type, the drawing must also depict the watch circle and water depth for each mooring and any channels or fairways within 500 feet of the proposed mooring buoys.

(b) through (c) No change.

(d) A statement of the purpose for placing the proposed markers.

1. through 3. No change.

4. If the application is for special marks, this statement must include a description of the anchorage, mooring field, park, cable or pipeline area, marine event, or other special area or feature for which the markers are proposed in sufficient detail to permit the Boating and Waterways Section to ascertain whether there are a proper number of markers proposed to be installed in proper locations so that the boating public is given adequate notice of the area’s or feature’s nature, location, and boundaries.

5.4. If the application is for mooring buoys, this statement must include the following:

a. through g. No change.

5. If the application is for special marks, this statement must include a description of the anchorage, mooring field, park, cable or pipeline area, marine event, or other special area or feature for which the markers are proposed in sufficient detail to permit the Boating and Waterways Section to ascertain whether there are a proper number of markers proposed to be installed in proper locations so that the boating public is given adequate notice of the area’s or feature’s nature, location, and boundaries.

(e) through (f) No change.

Rulemaking Authority 327.04, 327.40, 327.41 FS. Law Implemented 327.40, 327.41 FS. History–New 12-23-01, Amended 10-5-06, ________.

 

68D-23.109 Additional Specifications for Information, Danger, and Regulatory Markers.

(1) All information, danger, and regulatory markers shall be white in color and shall display international orange symbols.

(2) When a buoy is used as an information, danger, or regulatory marker, it shall be white with horizontal bands of international orange placed completely around the circumference of the buoy. One band shall be at the top of the buoy body, the second band shall be placed sufficiently just above the waterline so that both international orange bands are clearly visible to approaching vessels. The international orange bands shall be not less than two inches in width. The display area shall be that portion of the buoy body between the bands and shall be white. Symbols shall be centered between the international orange bands. Only a cylindrical buoy may be used. The buoy shall have a diameter of not less than nine inches.

(3) When a sign is used for an information, danger, or regulatory marker it must be rectangular. It must be white with an international orange border. The display area is the portion of the sign within the border. Symbols must be centered within the display area. The size of the sign must be appropriate to the size of the waterway where the sign is located and the nature of the vessels transiting the waterway, however, no such sign shall be smaller than three feet by three feet.

(a) Information or regulatory marker signs shall be rectangular.

(b) Danger marker signs shall be rectangular or diamond-shaped (a square sign rotated 45 degrees so that one corner is pointed straight down). If a diamond-shaped sign is used, the international orange border shall serve as the vertical open-faced diamond symbol and no additional symbol shall be displayed.

(4) No change.

Rulemaking Authority 327.04, 327.40, 327.41 FS. Law Implemented 327.40, 327.41 FS. History–New 12-23-01, Amended 10-5-06, ________.