Dive Flag Awareness Week starts Sat, June 27 - July 3

[Chad Carney]

As most already know...

Dive Flag Awareness Week starts tomorrow and runs through July 3.

** Fines could be around $90 for an illegal flag, no flag or improper display of a dive flag.

** Plane a boat through a dive flag area could bring about a $1000 fine.

Everybody be careful, safe and legal!

Chad

[Missdirected]

Thanks for the post Chad. :)

[djtimmy77]

Now if we just could get them to enforce this....

[NetDoc]

Please remember, this is not as much about fines and tickets as it is about SAFE BOATING EDUCATION. We made sure that everyone on the beach today was in %100 compliance with taking a flag out while hunting for teeth!

It's up to us to increase the Boater's education too!

[Chad Carney]

Now if we just could get them to enforce this....

djtimmy77,

Lt Bingham with the FWC started stepping up enforcement in Ft Lauderdale almost 3 years ago. And he worked with many divers to get the DFA Week passed by Gov Crist and the FL Cabinet.

There will now be much more enforcement and publicity of diving flag violations around the state. I don't want to see and hear about divers not complying with the very laws designed to protect them, and getting tickets, so this post, like many others on SB and in many other places are just reminders towards that end.

Like Pete said, keeping divers safe with proper dive flag displays is the real issue.

Chad

[DennisS]

The Sun Sentinel
Visitors pushing safety surprise divers

By Rachel Hatzipanagos | South Florida Sun-Sentinel 6:57 PM EDT, June 28, 2009 FORT LAUDERDALE - Stephen Levenson, 46, was snorkeling off the 58-foot yacht Cinderella (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/entertainment/movies/cinderella-PEFCC000025.topic) today when he had some uninvited guests: officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"License and registration, please," Lt. Dave Bingham of the FWC told Levenson.

Levenson had been snorkeling without flying a diving flag from his boat, and that means a $90 fine in Broward County (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/us/florida/broward-county-PLGEO100100403000000.topic). The commission's crackdown on flags was part of Dive Flag Awareness Week, which started Saturday and ends on Friday.

The campaign is conducted to make sure that divers present their flags properly and boaters know to be cautious and stay at least 100 feet away from a flag. In the past five years, 22 divers have been killed or injured by boats in Florida's waters." (Sun Sentinel)


The Regulation:

Vessel operators must make a reasonable effort to maintain a distance of at least 300 feet from divers-down flags on open waters and at least 100 feet from flags on rivers, inlets or navigation channels.

Vessels approaching divers-down flags closer than 300 feet in open water and 100 feet in rivers, inlets and navigation channels must slow to idle speed.

If you ask a Broward resident that reads the sun-sentinel, what's the closest you can get to a dive flag, while planing along, guess what the answer will be

[Chad Carney]

DennisS,

Thanks for posting... but, what happened to the rest of the story?

Chad

[DennisS]

Here ya go!

Divers cited for safety concerns as part of Dive Flag Awareness Week -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-diving-safety-b062809,0,2435382.story)

I just posted the part where they said the limit was 100 ft. I did a cut and paste. I just checked my link and they changed the article to the correct distances. I don't know if the story made it to the print edition.

It seems that some posters in the comments section weren't too happy with the journalist or the sun-sentinel posting incorrect information

[Chad Carney]

Thanks, glad to see the coverage in the Sentinel!