Florida Manatee Protection Laws: State and Federal Penalties

Florida manatee protection laws make it illegal anywhere in the state to harass, chase, feed, injure, capture, or kill a manatee, and to exceed posted speeds in manatee zones. The entire state is designated a manatee refuge, and penalties stack across state and federal law: a boating citation on the low end, up to $65,653 per civil violation of the Endangered Species Act, and as much as $50,000 in criminal fines plus a year in prison for a knowing federal violation. Your boat and gear can also be seized.

What You Cannot Do Around a Manatee

Florida law prohibits intentionally or negligently annoying, molesting, harassing, disturbing, injuring, capturing, pursuing, hunting, wounding, or killing a manatee, and bars possession of any manatee or manatee part.¹ In day-to-day terms, that rules out feeding a manatee, chasing one for a closer look, poking or prodding one, separating a mother from her calf, and blocking a manatee’s path. Even giving fresh water to a manatee from a dock hose counts as illegal harassment.²

Federal law reaches further. The Endangered Species Act defines “take” to include harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect.³ The Marine Mammal Protection Act also treats behavior that disrupts a manatee’s feeding, nursing, sheltering, or migration as harassment, so persistently approaching a resting animal or revving a motor near a group can qualify.⁴

Kings Bay in Crystal River is one of the few places in the country where entering the water near manatees is lawful at all, and even there the rules are strict. The federal Kings Bay Manatee Refuge prohibits chasing a manatee, touching one that’s resting or feeding, diving onto one from the surface, cornering or surrounding one, riding or grabbing one, and standing on one.⁵ You can passively observe a manatee that chooses to approach you. Initiating the contact is where federal harassment begins.

Speed Zones and Boating Restrictions

Boat strikes are a leading cause of manatee injury and death, so Florida posts speed zones wherever manatees travel or congregate. The two main types you’ll see on signs are:

Idle Speed, No Wake. The slowest speed at which you can still maintain steering and headway. No wake allowed.
Slow Speed, Minimum Wake. Slightly faster, but fully off plane and producing minimum wake.

Some zones run year-round; others are seasonal, activating in winter when manatees gather in warm-water areas like the Indian River Lagoon, Crystal River, and Tampa Bay. In Kings Bay, slow-speed restrictions cover the entire refuge all year, with a narrow summer-daylight exception near Buzzard Island.⁵ Signs mark every zone, and not knowing the restriction is not a defense.

Federal regulators can designate two stricter categories under 50 CFR Part 17. A federal manatee sanctuary bans all waterborne activity. A federal manatee refuge allows some activity but prohibits specified acts. In an emergency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director can establish a protection area without going through the usual rulemaking schedule.⁶

A narrow exception lets you enter a restricted zone or do something otherwise prohibited when reasonably necessary to prevent loss of human life, help a vessel in distress because of weather, or render emergency aid.

If Your Boat Hits a Manatee

Report the strike immediately. Call the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-FWCC (3922), or dial #FWC or *FWC from a cell phone.⁷ Fast reporting improves the animal’s chance of survival because the FWC can dispatch trained responders to assess and, if needed, rescue it.

Stay in the area if you can do so safely, but do not touch, restrain, or move the manatee yourself. That can worsen its injuries and may be a separate violation. Leaving the scene is risky in another way too: if investigators later determine you knew about the collision and left, what might have been treated as an accident can become a knowing-violation charge.

Florida Penalties

State law splits manatee violations into two main tiers.

Speed Zone Violations

Exceeding a posted speed in a manatee protection zone is a civil infraction, handled through a boating citation rather than criminal charges.¹ Refusing to accept or sign the citation is itself a second-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to 60 days in jail and up to $500 in fines.

Harassment and Entering Closed Areas

Harassing, disturbing, or injuring a manatee is a misdemeanor under the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, as is entering a designated “No Entry” or “Motorboat Prohibited” zone.¹ If a No Entry violation is blatant or willful, a court can elevate the charge to harassment, which carries the same penalties as directly disturbing a manatee.

Federal Penalties

Federal penalties are heavier than Florida’s, and they can be charged on top of state penalties for the same incident.

Endangered Species Act

A knowing violation of the ESA’s take prohibition carries a criminal fine of up to $50,000 and up to one year in prison. Knowing violations of other ESA regulations carry up to $25,000 and six months.⁸ Civil maximums are adjusted for inflation. As of 2026, the top civil penalty for a knowing take violation is $65,653 per violation; other knowing violations reach $31,513, and even unintentional violations can draw up to $1,659 each.⁹

Marine Mammal Protection Act

Any MMPA violation can trigger a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per offense, and each unlawful taking is a separate violation. A knowing violation carries a criminal fine of up to $20,000 and up to one year in prison.¹⁰

Seizure of Vessels and Gear

Federal authorities can seize property used in a violation. Under forfeiture rules that apply to both the ESA and MMPA, the government can take custody of vessels, motors, nets, traps, and other equipment, with forfeiture proceeding through criminal, civil judicial, or administrative channels.¹¹ Losing the boat tends to outlast the fine in memory.

Construction, Dredging, and Dock Work

Waterfront development adds a separate compliance track. Dredging or filling in state waters requires an Environmental Resource Permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the relevant water management district, and work in waters of the United States also requires a federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A joint application handles both.¹²

For smaller projects like docks, piers, boat ramps, and shoreline stabilization, a State Programmatic General Permit can skip the separate Army Corps review. That expedited track isn’t available in designated critical habitat areas, including Florida Panther consultation areas and coral critical habitat zones.¹³

Projects in manatee habitat often require a trained manatee spotter on-site during active work. Standard protocols stop open-water construction when a manatee is sighted within 100 feet, and work cannot resume until at least 30 minutes after the animal leaves. Power plants with warm-water discharge must monitor and report manatee presence at their outflows, which function as critical winter habitat when nearby waters cool.

Thirteen counties with high manatee populations operate under FWC-approved Manatee Protection Plans: Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Collier, Duval, Indian River, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Sarasota, St. Lucie, and Volusia.¹⁴ Local ordinances in these counties can impose stricter speed zones, require manatee-friendly construction such as floating docks, add no-entry areas, or require tour operators and rental businesses to brief customers before launch. If you boat, build, or run tours in one of these counties, check county rules before relying on state baselines.

Reporting Violations

Public tips drive a lot of enforcement. The FWC Wildlife Alert Reward Program takes reports of reckless boating in a manatee zone, harassment of a manatee, or habitat destruction through the hotline at 888-404-FWCC or online. Your identity stays confidential, and information that leads to an arrest or citation can earn a reward of up to $1,000.¹⁵ Useful reports include the location, time, and nature of the offense, identifying details about the people and vessels involved, and any photo or video evidence.

1
Justia. Florida Statutes 379.2431 – Marine Animals; Regulation
2
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Living with Florida Manatees
3
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Endangered Species Act Section 3 Definitions
4
Legal Information Institute. 16 USC 1362(18) – Definition of Level A Harassment
5
Federal Register. Establishing a Manatee Refuge in Kings Bay, Citrus County, FL
6
eCFR. 50 CFR Part 17 Subpart J – Manatee Protection Areas
7
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Information for Boaters and PWC Operators
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 1540 – Penalties and Enforcement
9
eCFR. 50 CFR 11.33 – Adjustments to Penalties
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 1375 – Penalties
11
eCFR. 50 CFR Part 12 – Seizure and Forfeiture Procedures
12
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. ERP Dredging and Filling
13
Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Federal Permits and Coordination Agreements Between DEP, WMDs, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
14
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Manatee Protection Plans – MPPs
15
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Wildlife Alert Reporting Options