College students have long headed to the Florida coast to celebrate spring break, often sparking frustration among locals due to their rowdy and disruptive behavior. This week, a particularly brazen act by one group of spring breakers sparked widespread backlash after video footage of the incident began spreading via social media.
A group of Spring Breakers riding off the South Florida coast showed no regard for their environment as they were caught on video dumping trash into the Atlantic Ocean. pic.twitter.com/aoHEUC2iUA
— Molly Ploofkins™ (@Mollyploofkins) April 30, 2024
The boaters, who were reportedly among roughly 10,000 participants in the annual Boca Bash party on Lake Boca, could be seen dumping trash directly into the water.
Rodrigo Samsing, a local boater outraged by the act, expressed his consternation to a local news outlet.
“There are a lot of good kids out there, but it doesn’t seem like they’re one of them,” he said. “It really infuriates you to see someone trash the ocean like that. You know, nobody else on the boat tried to stop them. Everybody was just celebrating.”
Samsing asserted that there was no excuse for emptying the contents of the trash can in the water when it could have been taken to shore and disposed of properly.
For their part, Boca Bash representatives similarly denounced the behavior, issuing a statement calling it “egregious” and “completely unacceptable.”
The organization asserted that “it is unresponsible [sic] boaters like this that have zero care for our oceans that give this event a bad reputation.”
As of the latest updates available, the boaters in question had not been publicly identified, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed it “was notified of an incident involving illegal trash dumping on Sunday at Boca Inlet” and there is “currently an active investigation” into the matter.
Dumping more than 15 pounds of litter into the water is punishable under state law as a first-degree misdemeanor, resulting in up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine upon conviction.
Of course, this is just the latest example of spring breakers leaving a trail of garbage in their wake.
Earlier this year, Miami Beach launched a new ad campaign featuring locals who said they were “breaking up” with spring breakers who “want to get drunk in public and ignore laws.”
The commercials showcased the chaos of previous celebrations in the area and announced new measures — including curfews and law enforcement checkpoints — implemented this year in order to maintain order.
