Florida Administrative Code › 68 - FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION › 68C - Manatees › Chapter 68C-22 - THE FLORIDA MANATEE SANCTUARY ACT › Section 68C-22.027 - Duval County and Associated County (Parts of Clay and St. Johns) Zones

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) The Commission
				hereby designates the waters within Duval County, Clay County, and St. Johns
				County, as described below, as areas where manatee sightings are frequent and
				where the best available information supports the conclusion that manatees
				inhabit these areas on a regular or periodic basis. The primary purpose of this
				rule is to protect manatees from harmful collisions with motorboats and from
				harassment by regulating the speed and operation of motorboats within these
				designated areas. A secondary purpose is to protect manatee habitat. In
				consideration of balancing the rights of fishers, boaters, and water skiers to
				use the waters of the state for recreational and commercial purposes (as
				applicable under Section
				370.12(2)(k),
				F.S.), with the need to provide manatee protection, the Commission has examined
				the need for limited lanes, corridors, or unregulated areas that allow higher
				speeds through or within regulated areas. Such lanes, corridors, or areas are
				provided in those locations where the Commission determined that they are
				consistent with manatee protection needs. All of the zones set forth below are
				in effect year-round and, unless otherwise stated, all zones exclude all
				associated waterways (tributaries, lakes, creeks, coves, bends, backwaters,
				canals, basins, etc.) unless explicitly included.
(a) Slow Speed, Shore-to-Shore -
1. Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Sisters
				Creek - All waters of Sisters Creek, including the Atlantic Intracoastal
				Waterway Channel, south of an East-West line running through Flashing Green
				Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Channel Marker "83" (approximate latitude
				30° 24' 04" North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 16" West), and
				northeast of a line which bears 310° from the southwestern corner of a
				seawall at the southwestern tip of Fanning Island (approximate latitude 30°
				23' 19" North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 41" West) and including those
				backwaters east of Sisters Creek lying southwest of a line which bears 140°
				from the southernmost tip of Shell Island (approximate latitude 30° 23' 52"
				North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 21" West);
2. Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, South of
				the St. Johns River - All waters of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, channel
				included, southwest of a line which bears 280° North from the westernmost
				tip (approximate latitude 30° 22' 44" North, approximate longitude 81°
				27' 30" West) of a peninsula west of Sherman Point on the southern side of the
				St. Johns River, north of a line which bears 62° running through a point
				600 feet north of and on a bearing of 332° from Flashing Green Atlantic
				Intracoastal Waterway Channel Marker "9" (approximate latitude 30° 22' 21"
				North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 01" West), northeast of the general
				contour of the northeastern shoreline of Great Marsh Island and a line which
				bears 137° from the easternmost tip of Great Marsh Island (approximate
				latitude 30° 22' 29" North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 17" West),
				and west of a line which bears 360° from the northernmost tip (approximate
				latitude 30° 22' 29" North, approximate longitude 81° 27' 05" West) of
				the unnamed island east of Green Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Channel Marker
				"7";
3. St. Johns River, Main
				Street Bridge to Fuller Warren Bridge Area - All waters of the St. Johns River
				and associated waterways west (upriver) of the Main Street Bridge and north
				(downriver) of the Fuller Warren Bridge;
4. Julington Creek and Durbin Creek Area -
				All waters of Julington Creek and Durbin Creek east of a line that bears
				180° from a point (approximate latitude 30° 07' 59" North, approximate
				longitude 81° 36' 02" West) on the northern shoreline of Julington Creek at
				the mouth of Oilfield Creek and west of a line that bears 180° from a point
				(approximate latitude 30° 08' 01" North, approximate longitude 81° 35'
				43" West) on the northern shoreline of Julington Creek 300 feet east of the
				southern extension of Hood Landing Road (and extending south across Durbin
				Creek to its southern shoreline).