No. HB 1171
Filed under Environment & Water.
Endangered or Threatened Marine Animals; Prohibits collection & transportation of endangered or threatened marine animals from state waters; prohibits FWCC from issuing, renewing, or approving certain licenses.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDNo one may collect or transport an endangered or threatened marine animal out of Florida's waters for the purpose of holding, displaying, or maintaining it for public exhibition or education. The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission can no longer license that activity either.
A violation is a Level Four offense, and each individual animal collected or transported counts as a separate offense, so one incident involving several animals can bring multiple charges.
The definitions reach broadly: collecting includes merely possessing or attempting to collect, and a covered marine animal includes eggs, tissue, shells, and other parts, not only a whole living animal.
Rescue, rehabilitation, and scientific study already conducted under valid state or federal authorization are exempt, and the act does not limit federal authority under the Endangered Species Act or related federal law.
AINo one may collect or transport an endangered or threatened marine animal out of Florida's waters for the purpose of holding, displaying, or maintaining it for public exhibition or education, closing that route for aquariums and similar exhibitors.
AIThe Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission can no longer issue, renew, or approve any education-exhibition special activity license, or any other authorization, that would let someone do what the collection ban forbids.
AIViolating this section is a Level Four violation under the state's wildlife penalty statute, and every individual endangered or threatened marine animal collected or transported counts as its own separate offense, so one incident involving several animals can produce multiple charges.
AIThe ban does not reach rescue, rehabilitation, or scientific study of marine animals, as long as those activities are already conducted under valid state or federal authorization consistent with the Endangered Species Act and commission rules.