(1) It is not lawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged or deposit or cause to be deposited, in the tide or salt waters of any bay, port, harbor, or river of this state, any ballast or material of any kind other than clear stone or rock, free from gravel or pebbles, which said clear stone or rock shall be deposited or discharged only in the construction of enclosures in connection with wharves, piers, quays, jetties, or in the construction of permanent bulkheads connecting the solid and permanent portion of wharves. It is lawful to construct three characters of bulkheads for retention of material in solid wharves. First, clear stone or rock enclosures, or bulkheads, may be built upon all sides to a height not less than 21/2 feet above high watermark; and after the enclosures have been made so solid, tight, and permanent as to prevent any sand, mud, gravel, or other material that may be discharged or deposited in them from drifting or escaping through such enclosures, any kind of ballast may be discharged or deposited within the enclosures. The enclosures may be constructed of wood, stone, and rock combined, the stone and rocks to be placed on the outside of the wood to a height not less at any point than 21/2 feet above high watermark. Second, a bulkhead may be built by a permanent wharf consisting of thoroughly creosoted piles not less than 12 inches in diameter at the butt end, to be driven close together and to be capped with timber not less than 10 or 14 inches drift, bolted to each pile, and one or more longitudinal stringers to be placed on the outside of the bulkhead and securely anchored by means of iron rods to piles driven within the bulkheads, clear rock to be on the inside of the bulkhead, to a height of not less than 21/2 feet above high water; and after this is done, ballast or other material may be deposited within the permanent enclosure so constructed. Third, a bulkhead may be constructed to consist of creosoted piles, as described herein, driven not exceeding 4 feet apart from center to center, inside of which two or more longitudinal stringers may be placed and securely bolted to the piles. Inside of these longitudinal pieces, two thicknesses of creosoted sheet piling are to be driven, each course of the sheet piling to make a joint with the other so as to form an impenetrable wharf; and within this permanent bulkhead so constructed, any ballast or other material may be deposited. No such enclosure, pier, quay, or jetty shall be begun until the point whereat it is to be built shall have been connected by a substantial wharf with a shore or with a permanent wharf; except that the owners of wharves may at any time, with the consent of the Board of Pilot Commissioners of the Division of Professions of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, build wharves of clear stone or rock, or creosoted walls as hereinafter provided, on each side of their wharves from the shore to a point at which the water is not more than 15 feet deep, and when such walls have attained a height of 21/2 feet above high watermark and have been securely closed at the deepwater end by stone or creosoted walls of the same height, any kind of ballast may be deposited in them. Nothing contained in this section shall interfere with any rights or privileges now enjoyed by riparian owners. While this section empowers those who desire to construct the several characters of wharves, piers, quays, jetties, and bulkheads provided for and described herein, nothing in this section shall be so construed as to require any person not desiring to construct a permanent wharf by filling up with ballast, stone, or other material to construct under the specifications contained herein; and nothing in this chapter shall be so construed as to prevent any person from constructing any wharf or placing any pilings, logs, or lumber in any waters where the person would have heretofore had the right so to do.

(2) This section shall not prohibit Escambia County from placing in Pensacola Bay, on the Escambia County side, beside the old Pensacola Bay Bridge, certain materials, as recommended by the Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to increase the number of fish available for persons fishing from the old Pensacola Bay Bridge.

(3) This section shall not prohibit Manatee County from placing in the Manatee County portions of Sarasota Bay and Tampa Bay and in the Manatee River, certain materials, as recommended by the Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to increase the number of fish available for persons fishing in the above areas.

(4) This section shall not prohibit Pinellas County from placing in Tampa Bay certain materials as recommended by the Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, to increase the number of fish available for persons fishing in the bay.

History.—ch. 3298, 1881; RS 936; s. 1, ch. 4370, 1895; GS 1290; RGS 2460; CGL 3869; s. 1, ch. 61-11; s. 1, ch. 63-423; s. 1, ch. 65-26; ss. 25, 30, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 184, ch. 81-259; s. 31, ch. 94-218; s. 134, ch. 94-356; s. 890, ch. 95-148; s. 236, ch. 99-245.