Bureau of Public Land Administration Quick Links Sovereignty submerged lands include, but are not limited to, tidal lands, islands, sandbars, shallow banks and lands waterward of the ordinary or mean high water line, beneath navigable fresh water or beneath tidally influenced waters.

Submerged Lands Act (SLA) of 1953, 43 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq., is a U.S. federal law that recognized the title of the states to submerged navigable lands within their boundaries at the time they entered the Union.

Submerged lands means land covered by tidal waters between the line of mean low water and seaward to a distance of three geographic miles, in their natural state, without being affected by man-made structure, fill, and so forth.

The second amendment, Section 18-21.0051, F.A.C., known as the delegation rule, gives the decision-making authority of the Board of Trustees, for certain* actions regarding the use of sovereign submerged lands, to the Department and to the above cited water management districts.

Florida’s jurisprudence provides that common law riparian rights include:

• the right to make general use of the water adjacent to the property;
• the right to wharf out to navigability;
• the right to have access to navigable waters, and;
• the right to accretions.

Generally, non-navigable waters such as lakes and ponds are subject to private ownership to the extent that the State of Florida has not maintained any reservation of rights therein and provided that the lake was not depicted as being a property owned by the State of Florida as of 1845.

The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 is a U.S. federal law that recognized the title of the states to submerged navigable lands within their boundaries at the time they entered the Union.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, created on August 7, 1953, defines the OCS as all submerged lands lying seaward of state coastal waters (3 miles offshore) which are under U.S. jurisdiction.

1953
The Submerged Lands Act of 1953 is a U.S. federal law that recognized the title of the states to submerged navigable lands within their boundaries at the time they entered the Union.

Regardless of its cause, coastal submergence contributes to land loss in several ways. The most easily recognized effects of submergence are land losses caused by permanent flooding. The passive inundation of the shore typically expands estuaries, lakes, and lagoons at the expense of adjacent uplands and wetlands.

TIITF is short for Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the State of Florida – the entity that holds title to state-owned lands in Florida.

We conclude there is a common law qualified riparian right or privilege to construct piers or wharves from the riparian owner’s land onto submerged land to the point of navigability but not beyond the low water line, subject to the superior and concurrent rights of the public and to applicable regulations.

Sovereignty submerged lands include, but are not limited to, tidal lands, islands, sandbars, shallow banks and lands waterward of the ordinary or mean high water line, beneath navigable fresh water or beneath tidally influenced waters. The state of Florida acquired title to sovereignty submerged lands on March 3, 1845, by virtue of statehood.

Sovereignty submerged lands include all submerged lands, title to which is held by the Board of Trustees (Governor and Cabinet) of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. The Submerged Section processes incoming correspondence related to local government issues for state-owned lands including:

DEP’s Submerged Lands and Environmental Resources Coordination program reviews applications for proposed works in wetlands and other surface waters, as well as works in uplands that can affect water quality and quantity, to ensure compliance with the Florida Administrative Code and Florida Statutes.

The Submerged Section processes incoming correspondence related to local government issues for state-owned lands including: assignment to new upland owners.