Florida Administrative Code › 68 - FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION › 68C - Manatees › Chapter 68C-22 - THE FLORIDA MANATEE SANCTUARY ACT › Section 68C-22.015 - Charlotte County (and Part of DeSoto County) Zones

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) The Commission hereby designates the
				waters within Charlotte County and DeSoto 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.
(2) The following zones are established,
				which include all associated and navigable tributaries, lakes, creeks, coves,
				bends, backwaters, canals, and boat basins unless otherwise designated or
				excluded. As used in this rule, ICW means the Intracoastal Waterway.
(a) Idle Speed (All Year).
1. Turtle Bay, Southeast Entrance: Those
				waters east and southeast of a line beginning at the easternmost point
				(approximate latitude 26° 46' 23.2'' North, approximate longitude 82°
				10' 30.8'' West) of a small unnamed island in the Gallagher Keys (at the
				southern end of Turtle Bay) and bearing 360° for a distance of
				approximately 2605 feet to a point (approximate latitude 26° 46' 49.1''
				North, approximate longitude 82° 10' 31.0'' West) in Turtle Bay, and then
				bearing 68° to a point (approximate latitude 26° 47' 01.1'' North,
				approximate longitude 82° 09' 59.0'' West) on the eastern shoreline of
				Turtle Bay north of Cape Haze, and north and northwest of a line beginning at
				said easternmost point of a small unnamed island in the Gallagher Keys and
				bearing approximately 128° to the southwesternmost point (approximate
				latitude 26° 46' 20.1'' North, approximate longitude 82° 10' 26.4''
				West) of the small unnamed island to the southeast, and then bearing 106°
				for a distance of approximately 960 feet to a point (approximate latitude
				26° 46' 17.5'' North, approximate longitude 82° 10' 16.2'' West) in
				Charlotte Harbor, and then bearing 40° to a point (approximate latitude
				26° 46' 50.5'' North, approximate longitude 82° 09' 46.4'' West) on the
				shoreline east of Cape Haze, excluding the waters in the embayment north of
				this point.
2. Turtle Bay, Mid-bay
				Area: Those waters inside of a polygon defined by the following coordinates:
				latitude 26° 47' 10.3'' North, longitude 82° 10' 54.5'' West
				(southwest); latitude 26° 47' 22.3'' North, longitude 82° 10' 50.5''
				West (northwest); latitude 26° 47' 19.7'' North, longitude 82° 10'
				40.5'' West (northeast), and; latitude 26° 47' 07.6'' North, longitude
				82° 10' 44.4'' West (southeast).