Today on Marine Science Minute with Florida Sea Grant: Vessel discharge laws! 

If you’re out on the high seas, it’s important to know where you can and can’t dump your boat’s waste.  

If your waste hasn’t been treated by a Coast Guard approved Type I or II Marine Sanitation Device, or MSD, you can’t dump it into state waters that extend three nautical miles off the Atlantic coast and nine nautical miles off the Gulf of Mexico coast.  

If your waste has been treated through a Type I or II MSD, you still can’t dump it in any No Discharge Zone, freshwater lakes too shallow for vessels with installed toilets, or any river not navigable by interstate vessel traffic. 

Here’s what you can do: download Pumpout Nav on Google Play or in the App Store to find a public pumpout station near you. 

For more information about this and other coastal topics, contact your county extension office or visit Florida Sea Grant at flseagrant.org.

Florida Sea Grant, in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, develops tools and resources that empower the boating community to properly dispose of waste and keep our water clean.

Person using boat discharge pumpout.