I was never a Boy Scout, but there’s a teaching in scouting that I feel is a good, universal rule for life: Always leave somewhere better than when you found it.


This generally applies to picking up all your shit after you’re done camping, but it can also fit for more mundane situations — for example, leaving pennies in the “take a penny, leave a penny” tray, editing typos on Wikipedia and doing all of the other tiny bullshit we can to make life more bearable for our fellow man.


Sadly, not everyone has taken this lesson to heart. Case in point: Some bros in Florida recently headed out into choppy waters and dumped their trash into the ocean — not exactly Eagle Scout behavior!



According to the video, several partiers at Florida’s Boca Bash were caught picking up trash cans and dumping them into the ocean. Why? No reason, it seems — maybe they just really hate the ocean.


Unfortunately for these boaters, they broke one of those laws that you’ve probably never heard of but are way more serious than you might think. According to Boat U.S. Foundation, “Under federal law, it is illegal to toss ANY garbage from a boat while you are anywhere in lakes, rivers, bays, sounds, and offshore in the ocean less than three miles. … Violations may result in civil penalties up to $25,000, a fine of up to $50,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to five years!”



Thankfully, pretty much no one is on the side of the boaters. That’s why the entirety of Florida joined together to find these assholes — and wouldn’t you know it, they actually did.


Per the Daily Mail, “Representatives for Boca Bash say they’ve identified the party boys and called their behavior ‘completely unacceptable,’ while local police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating.”


“I mean they already had the trash sitting in the garbage can, they could have just put a bag, grabbed a bag, filled it up and thrown it away,” noted local boater Rodrigo Samsing. “Instead, they just dump it carelessly into the ocean. It’s just really sad to see.” Dude’s got a point!



Hopefully these boys will be brought to justice and face some form of punishment. Maybe that comes in the form of a fine, or hey, maybe we just dump them off the boat, too.