Tanner Mansell

The Florida Safe Seas Act is filled with holes, contradictions, and unsupported assumptions. It is not based on sound science, and it directly targets a small, regulated industry that has spent decades promoting shark conservation, research, education, and public awareness.

One of the bill’s central claims is that shark-diving operations are responsible for increasing shark interactions with anglers. The reality is much more complex. Around the world, sharks naturally learn to target dead, injured, or struggling fish on fishing lines because they are an easy meal. This occurs globally and is not limited to a small area off South Florida.

Meanwhile, Florida’s shark-diving industry operates more than 3 miles offshore, away from beaches and has helped transform sharks from targets of harvest into valuable living wildlife that support tourism, scientific research, education, and conservation efforts. In many cases, sharks are beginning to become worth more alive than dead.

Yet while this bill targets a small offshore ecotourism industry, it remains completely legal to fish for sharks from shore, and intentionally attract sharks near beaches for the purpose of catching them. If public safety is truly the concern, why target a regulated industry operating miles offshore while leaving these activities untouched?

Instead of addressing the actual sources of conflict, this legislation threatens the livelihoods of hardworking Floridians, small businesses, researchers, educators, photographers, charter operators, and conservation advocates who have dedicated their lives to protecting these animals and showing people their importance.

If this industry disappears, one of the strongest voices advocating for shark protection in Florida disappears with it. Sharks become easier targets for harvest, while the conservation, educational, scientific, and economic benefits provided by shark ecotourism are lost.

You have a voice.

Visit the website in my bio. Sign the petition. Call your Senators. Let them know how you feel before it’s too late.

Protect science-based conservation.

Protect Florida jobs.

Protect our sharks.

🚨 Florida’s Shark Diving Industry Is Under Threat 🚨

H.R. 3831 has passed the House and is now headed to the Senate.

If enacted, this legislation would effectively shut down Florida’s shark diving industry by prohibiting the attraction of sharks for any purpose other than harvest.

This impacts shark conservation, marine research, tourism, small businesses, photographers, educators, and the thousands of people who travel to Florida each year to experience sharks in the wild.

The Senate vote is next. Make your voice heard.

➡️ Visit the link in our bio
➡️ Sign the petition (a message will automatically be sent to your Senators)
➡️ Share this post and help spread the word

Together, we can protect Florida’s sharks, the people who advocate for them, and the future of shark diving.