Florida law

[ReefGuy]

I'm not really interested in man made artifacts, but this is truly a low blow.

 

[H2Andy]

Uh, the last time I checked the Legislature had to "pass" any bill, and the Governor had to sign it to make it "law."
If some agency promulgated a new regulation that says what you've posted, it is likely there is insufficient law on the books to give it teeth, and that agency has overstepped their bounds and needs a little jolt from your local representative.
Let the letter writing begin.
Rick

i don't know how i missed this question

Rick, what happened is that the agency had the power, at its discretion,
to allow retrieval of artifacts without violation of Florida law. the law
stated that the agency "may" allow people to do that.

the agency dediced to terminate its program effective June 1, 2005, as it
is its discretion to do (they are not mandated to allow people to retrieve
artifacts; they "may" do it if they want to, and they have chosen not to)

as i understand this ruling, it is now illegal to bring up any historical or
archaelogical artifacts (pretty much anything except obvious modern stuff
or trash) from any sovereign submerged waters in Florida.

Sovereign submerged waters are defined as:

Generally, sovereign submerged lands include tidelands and all lands beneath navigable waters, the title to which has not been validly transferred. Sovereign submerged lands encompass beaches between mean high water and mean low water lines, islands within navigable waters, lands beneath the ordinary high water marks of lakes and rivers, and lands extending three miles into the Atlantic Ocean and three marine leagues (approximately nine miles) into the Gulf of Mexico

 

[Brad B]

Reef Guy, I can tell you for a fact that they will next set their sights on the fossil collectors.

 

[Web Monkey]

Reef Guy, I can tell you for a fact that they will next set their sights on the fossil collectors.

It wouldn't break my heart.

Look at it, take pictures, do a painting if it makes you happy, but leave everything where it was, so the next diver can see it too.

Artifacts and fossils belong where they are.

Terry

 

[ReefGuy]

I'm afraid that you're right.

Reef Guy, I can tell you for a fact that they will next set their sights on the fossil collectors.

 

[CBulla]

It wouldn't break my heart.

Look at it, take pictures, do a painting if it makes you happy, but leave everything where it was, so the next diver can see it too.

Artifacts and fossils belong where they are.

Terry

Uh, no. You have to work to find these paleontology finds and I've got the finds now to prove that folks can swim right by a HUGE find and not even see it where as I was able to recognize a great find and after some digging have it available for anyone who wants to view it, free to be seen. It's a Juvenile Mastodon Tibia, 27" long, weighs about 40# and took a bit of work to not only unearth completely but bring in and estimated at the 15 million year old mark.

We've also got fossil tortise shell, prehistoric horse teeth (both the extinct miniature and modern equine), vertabrae, and much much more... Stuff in areas other divers venture but never see as they are in search of the ever elusive Megalodon shark tooth and picking up miscellaneous other smaller shark teeth in the mean time.

This fossiling is AWESOME in the rivers of Southwest Florida as this area was basically a MECCA of wildlife in previous times gone by.

BTW, I have a permit and report all my significant finds.

except those that are part of state and federal parks, preserves, management areas or reserves where cultural resources are specifically protected

Sooooooo.. think about that for a moment..... k... moment up. IF your diving in a federal or state park, preserve, or otherwise state/county managed area of historical significance, wouldn't that sort of fall under the catagory of preservation?

None of my diving or recoveries take place in any of the listed places. It's either public lands or private property.

 

[wreckdiver1715]

It wouldn't break my heart.

Look at it, take pictures, do a painting if it makes you happy, but leave everything where it was, so the next diver can see it too.

Artifacts and fossils belong where they are.

Terry

Terry, if you come across a pile of encrusted pieces of eight you’re going to leave them on the bottom for me to see later on? Thanks you’re the man!

Q

 

[willydiver]

The Florida DHR passed a law effective 1 June 2005, making it a misdemeanor to remove artifacts from Florida waters, to include lakes, rivers and out three miles on the ocean and Gulf side.

The law against removing relics/artifacts has been in place for over ten years. What the Florida Historical Commission did was ****-can the Isolated Finds Program. The IFP promoted cooperation between the State and collectors of relics/artifacts. It allowed the collector to report some information about the location where the artifact was found, type, picture, etc. The State would catalogue the information and had the ability to request the artifact for study. If the artifact was deemed to be not extrememly important to the historical record of Florida, full ownership of the artifact was given to the collector. I don't personally know of any artifact that the State requested to keep.

In others words, the IFP allowed the State to collect the thing that should be the most important to them, the INFORMATION. Trust me, they do not need any more arrowheads/bottles to stuff into their drawers to collect dust.

The creators of the IFP had good intentions and realized the importance of keeping a friendly avenue open between the State and the collectors. Like BradB said, all this does is cut that channel of information and now ALL collected artifacts will disappear into the collections of the unknown. Way-to-go Florida Historical Commission. You really dropped the ball on this one.

I am a diver/collector/"amateur" archaeologist and don't sell or buy artifacts. That topic is a whole other avenue for discussion. But anything of value will be bought and sold by some. I wish it weren't true for artifacts, but it's reality. As with most things, there is an agenda behind the abolishment of the IFP. Whether it be lost revenue by the State or stirring up controversay to justify certain peoples employment, it's a sad case.

WD

 

[willydiver]

CBulla

Sorry 'bout the dirty word. I get fired up on this topic......

WD