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More illegal charter crackdown

Discussion in 'Yacht Captains' started by Pascal, Jan 9, 2019.

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  1. Beau, Jan 29, 2021
    #101
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    A quick review of FL law, it seems the State can impose possible fines of $30,000 or more, and arrest and imprison the operators of illegal charters. I would not be surprised that impoundment isn't also permitted. Someone with better knowledge of FL law than me can correct that info as necessary. So it would seem that the lack of serious enforcement is the issue? To me, it would be some kind of criminal homicide statute that would attach if a death resulted from a lack of PFD's? If there were minors aboard it could be child endangerment even without an injury?
  2. Capt Ralph, Jan 29, 2021
    #102
    Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Agreed here on all.
  3. Pascal, Jan 29, 2021
    #103
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I don’t want to sound like i m defending illegal charters but fortunately there aren’t many deaths or serious injuries resulting from them. The last one here was 3 or 4 years ago when a pax was swimming behind the boat when the wannabe captain, another illegal, drunk and drug abusing AH, backed into him

    the truth is that short of behind a complete idiot, most of these operators get away with it because boating in SoFl is like boating on a lake. Not much can happen since waters are calm and sand is softer than rocks...

    Now the problem is when you have multiple idiots within striking distance of each other then all bets are off

    finally while all the fines seem impressive in the press releases, it seems that they end up being negotiated down to a slap on the wrist.
  4. NYCAP123, Jan 29, 2021
    #104
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    How soon we forget: https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/another-boat-fire-in-fort-lauderdale.33610/page-5#post-303985 . I think there's probably far more deaths and injuries than we realize because the headlines read 'Passenger falls from boat and drowns' or 'Overloaded boat capsizes', 'Migrants die when pushed overboard', etc. If money changed hands and a boat was used it's an illegal charter. Maybe if one of these reality TV shows would follow and publicize the cases all the way to sentencing and judgements so we could see the captains and owners crying as their lives are destroyed by lawyers and plaintiffs bankrupting them and their butts being sent to prison to become Bubba's best girl it would have more impact.
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