In a controversial move, the Biden administration is considering whether to impose hefty fines and prison times for boats who travel too fast off of Florida's Gulf Coast. 

According to Just the News, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) closed a public comment last week on a petition to set the speed limit at 10 knots--roughly 11.5 miles per hours.

Violators face fine up to $20,000 and one year in prison

The petition further calls for those caught going in excess of 10 knots to be fined up to $20,000 and face up to one year behind bars. Those penalties would apply to all violators regardless of their boat's size.

Submitted by a coalition made up of six environmental groups, the petition seeks to protect the endangered Rice’s whale, an animal which is protected under both Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

The coalition's petition has drawn sharp pushback from the Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), a public interest law firm.

"For years, special interest groups have lobbied the federal government to set speed limits across American waters that would effectively shut down recreational boating and fishing activity," SLF said in a statement.

Critics say there is no evidence rule is needed

"The latest proposal is the boldest yet, mandating that all boats, no matter how small, traveling in the Florida Gulf obey a 10-knot speed limit," the organization continued, adding, "This rule would make criminals out of recreational boaters and make fishing trips practically impossible."

SLF went on to complain that those proposing the rule "cannot show that a single boat strike on Rice’s whales in the Florida gulf was ever attributable to a boat of a recreational size, and NMFS [ National Marine Fisheries Service] cannot deduce it based on the evidence presented," the legal group wrote in its opposition statement.

"Over the last two decades, the coalition cites only two instances where Rice’s whales had evidence of a strike from a boat of any size, which isn’t the same as saying that it ever happened at all," SLF stressed.

Boat Owners Association raises safety concerns

Braden Bocek serves as SLF's litigation director, and he pointed out in an interview with Just the News founder John Solomon that ten knots "is just above running speed on all boats of all sizes across the Florida Gulf."

This is not the first time that the Biden administration has looked at imposing strict nautical speed limits, as Fox News reported in December that a similar rule has been considered on the Atlantic coast to protect right whales.

Boat Owners Association president Chris Edmonston told Fox News such a limitation would create safety concerns, saying, "This is going to make them wallow in the waves — up and down, side to side, pitching. It’s going to be hard to maintain control. You can take waves over the side."