Does town own below tide line?

[aaronman]

So I've been detecting private property for a couple weeks, and I'm about ready to hit the parks when I search the local laws.

1. No person shall use any mechanical, magnetic, electrical or other device constructed or designed for the purpose of locating or discovering any lost, abandoned or mislaid articles or goods in, under or upon said areas, except as authorized by the Director.

2. No person shall dig or remove any sand, soil, rock, stones, trees, shrubs, plants, grass, downtimber or other wood or materials or make any excavation by tool, equipment or other means or agency. No person shall dig in or otherwise injure or impair the natural beauty or usefulness of any area.




This is strange because I've seen detectorists at the beach, and I've heard stories about them being yelled at to stay below the tide line. My question is, is below the tide line state property?

If so, my state says digging at the beaches is fine, but:

2. The use of metal detection devices will only be permitted when the beach is not being used by the public for other purposes.

Huh? Thanks for any advice.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

reply

So I've been detecting private property for a couple weeks, and I'm about ready to hit the parks when I search the local laws.

1. No person shall use any mechanical, magnetic, electrical or other device constructed or designed for the purpose of locating or discovering any lost, abandoned or mislaid articles or goods in, under or upon said areas, except as authorized by the Director.

2. No person shall dig or remove any sand, soil, rock, stones, trees, shrubs, plants, grass, downtimber or other wood or materials or make any excavation by tool, equipment or other means or agency. No person shall dig in or otherwise injure or impair the natural beauty or usefulness of any area.




This is strange because I've seen detectorists at the beach, and I've heard stories about them being yelled at to stay below the tide line. My question is, is below the tide line state property?

If so, my state says digging at the beaches is fine, but:

2. The use of metal detection devices will only be permitted when the beach is not being used by the public for other purposes.

Huh? Thanks for any advice.

Aaron-man, you seem to be asking multiple different questions. So let me see if I understand them correctly:

a) On the one hand, you see a municipal (city? county?) law that does indeed forbid metal detectors (if that's what we can assume "electrical devices" for "locating articles" is, doh!). However, on the OTHER hand, in the same breath, they're saying you CAN use detectors (an express ALLOWANCE [albeit for the beach, etc...]). Hence there appears to be a contradiction.

My take on that is, it seems like there is an exception to the "no detecting" rule, where .... beach sand is deemed outside of that rule. Hence beaches are fine, just not on land (turf, etc...)

b) However, even once a person deduces he can detect on the beach, then the part II of the rules [no digging] still seem to stymie you. Right? I mean, what good is detecting, unless you can dig up the target, haha.

So you wonder if it's because the inter-tidal zone is technically considered still to be within the navigable waters right-of-way, hence not under the say-so of the local county, city, or whatever. Right ? Well if that's the case, then so too is any municipal "no detecting" rule non-applicable as well. I have often heard of this wet-sand zone inter-tidal legal definitions being used to even hunt federal beaches. Any ranger who wants to tell you that you can't detect on a federal beach, can simply be alerted to the fact that you're below the high -tide mark. The only exception would be for shipwreck salvor leases, where .... their spread of shipwreck goodies are deemed to include the adjacent beach (which would only be a select few rare spots in probably Florida only, and nowhere else in the USA).

I wouldn't push ANY of these issues though. Or, I mean, start asking for clarifications, etc.. Because I suppose if someone started looking long enough and hard enough into international water's laws/rules, that .... heck ... there might even be something THERE for cultural heritage, disturbance, blah blah.

So like any place, I would go with the actual reality (ie.: people are already detecting and having no problems), than to fret myself with "what if" questions all day long. You can certainly find something that would seem to preclude you if you want. And then sit and watch those others that have no problems, while you sit at home ? Just go !

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Welcome to T Net! Is the state Florida, Massachusetts, or another?

 

[aaronman]

a) On the one hand, you see a municipal (city? county?) law that does indeed forbid metal detectors. However, on the OTHER hand, in the same breath, they're saying you CAN use detectors (an express ALLOWANCE [albeit for the beach, etc...]). Hence there appears to be a contradiction.

Sorry, that was confusing. My town bans all use of metal detectors and digging in all town parks/beaches, but my state allows it at state beaches. I'm trying to figure out a loophole which would classify below the tide line as a state beach.

Welcome to T Net! Is the state Florida, Massachusetts, or another?

Connecticut. I live close to New York, and they have a permitting system, so I might start digging there.

I've still got some private land left to dig until then.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sorry, that was confusing. My town bans all use of metal detectors and digging in all town parks/beaches, but my state allows it at state beaches. I'm trying to figure out a loophole which would classify below the tide line as a state beach....

Well it sounds like it MUST be a work-able "loophole". Because didn't you say you see people md'ing there with no issues or problems ? If you're still skittish, go talk to one of them next time you're there, and ask them a) how long have they been doing this hobby there, and b) have they ever heard of anyone having any problems there?

If that comes back affirmative that there's no issues, then I would go "clarifying" anything. Because the LAST thing you want to do, is go alerting some bored bureaucrats that there's some "pressing issue" down at the beach that deserves their measuring tapes, legal questions, etc..... Because if they apparently don't currently care, then ..... why rock that boat?

 

[cudamark]

Tom, I think you meant to say that you "wouldn't" go clarifying anything.

 

[Bum Luck]

Different entities, both have jurisdiction.

State law, and local law.

Local law says:

1. No person shall use any mechanical, magnetic, electrical or other device constructed or designed for the purpose of locating or discovering any lost, abandoned or mislaid articles or goods in, under or upon said areas, except as authorized by the Director.

2. No person shall dig or remove any sand, soil, rock, stones, trees, shrubs, plants, grass, downtimber or other wood or materials or make any excavation by tool, equipment or other means or agency. No person shall dig in or otherwise injure or impair the natural beauty or usefulness of any area.