HR 3831: Florida Safe Seas Act of 2025

HR 3831 in plain English: This bill would ban shark feeding in federal waters off the coast of Florida—specifically in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends from state waters out to about 200 miles offshore—unless the purpose is to harvest sharks. Limited exceptions exist for federally funded research and situations determined to pose no public safety risk.

Stated purpose

To prohibit the feeding of sharks in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone off the coast of Florida, with limited exceptions for shark harvesting and federally funded research, in order to promote public safety at sea.

Key points

• Prohibits introducing food or any substance into Florida EEZ waters to attract sharks, except for shark harvesting
• Covers federal waters seaward of Florida's state waters, which extend 3 miles in the Atlantic and 9 miles in the Gulf
• Allows exceptions for federally funded research programs or feeding deemed safe by NOAA or state law

Arguments supporters make

• Feeding sharks in the open ocean can condition them to associate humans with food, which supporters say raises the risk of shark attacks on swimmers, divers, and beachgoers near Florida's busy coastline.
• Extending the existing Hawaii prohibition to Florida creates consistent federal rules across two major shark-feeding tourism markets, closing a gap in current law.
• Limiting shark feeding protects natural shark behavior and marine ecosystems, since artificially attracting sharks can disrupt their normal feeding and migration patterns.

Arguments opponents make

• Shark feeding dive tours are a significant part of Florida's marine tourism economy, and this ban could put small dive businesses and their employees out of work without clear evidence that such activities directly cause beach attacks.
• Critics may argue that NOAA already has tools to regulate unsafe marine activities, making a new federal prohibition an unnecessary layer of government intervention that overrides local and state judgment.
• The safety exception—allowing feeding if it poses no public health hazard or safety risk—is vague and gives a federal agency broad discretion to decide which private activities are permitted, creating regulatory uncertainty for businesses.

Tradeoffs

The bill trades economic activity and recreational opportunity in the shark-diving tourism industry for a potential increase in public safety by reducing shark conditioning to human presence; balancing these interests requires weighing uncertain safety benefits against concrete costs to businesses that operate legally today.

Current status in Congress: Passed House.

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