SPRING HILL, Fla. — New rules for boaters and kayakers are now being enforced on one of Florida’s favorite waterways.
Hernando County, FWC and community leaders were on hand Thursday to unveil and post new signs designating a 5.6-mile stretch of the beautiful Weeki Wachee River as a “Springs Protection Zone.” Anchoring, mooring, beaching and grounding of boats or kayaks in the river is now prohibited from Rogers Park through the state park.
“We still want you to come out and enjoy the river. We want you to swim and snorkel and do those things. It's just, we don't want you to anchor, we don't want you to beach your boat or your kayaks,” Hernando County Commissioner Brian Hawkins said.
The enforcement comes after a years-long push from locals and environmentalists to protect the river from human-caused degradation.
“It's shockingly wonderful. And I think that's one of the things that made us feel very, very motivated to try and protect it,” Jilan Crowley, a member of the Sierra Club who calls Hernando Beach home, said.
A report has shown too much human use has killed vegetation, impacting wildlife and water quality.
“What they learned is that the erosion from beaching boats, anchoring boats and the drag that the anchors create pulling up the seagrass and those types of things were detrimental to the river, there was a lot of degradation going on,” Hawkins explained.
Over the past few years, the amount of visitors and local population has boomed, spurring leaders to keep pursuing change. Commissioners worked to draft legislation, and last summer FWC approved rule changes to establish the protection zone.
FWC says they aren’t upping patrols. For the first few months, they will focus on educating boaters.
“But then once we feel like it's been out there, we've educated the community. We've done marketing on this. That's when people may start receiving tickets depending on the violation,” FWC Public Information Officer Forest Rotchild said.
Violators could get a $140 fine, which advocates say is a small price to pay. The benefit will be from teaching boaters about the importance of this vibrant water and limiting its decline.
“It feels fantastic. Because we haven't restricted people's access to the river. All we've done is ask them to love the river the way that we do, and obey the few rules that are here that are simple,” Crowley added.
County officials say work will continue over the next few years to continue working to preserve the Weeki Wachee River. In the future, they will analyze the effectiveness of the new rules to see if it’s having an impact.