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The devil is in the details - >> of all the navigable waters of the United States.<<
especially when dealing with laws involving State's Rights. In Florida it has been determined by the lawyers and State and Federal courts that the "waters within the prescribed channels belongs to the Fed's but the "mud" belongs to the State. If you can anchor/hold position without touching the "mud" you are in Federal jurisdiction, but as soon as your anchor takes up residence (outside a channel) in the "mud" you are under State of Florida jurisdiction. This was legally determined a decade or more ago and reported by the articles published in Southwinds out of St. Pete. The Florida anchoring restrictions hassle has been going on for longer. than most people can remember. The only exception to this is the existence of grandfathered rights to the mud because you owned a house and have an existing dock from before XXX year(date.) That is why you see old docks in disrepair or minimal repair along Florida waterways. The land owner wants to maintain rights to the "mud" under his dock and not have to get involved in State Ecological hassles about permits to build a dock. California has a similar situation with housing. If one wall from a pre-existing "grandfathered" house exists you are not building a "new" house but doing "renovations." All this stuff gets "weird" sometimes.
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