The widespread use of airboats is nothing new for the Florida Everglades. But their 20th century applications have grown beyond pleasure boaters seeking access to these remote areas, subsistence fishermen or hunters, and commercial tour operators. The airboat in the 21st century has become a widespread tool of law enforcement to combat illegal activity, ranging from drug smuggling, illegal dumping, animal cruelty, and illegal border crossings.
The advantages of the airboat’s design also make it ideal for rescue operations. In 2020, the Miami-Dade Police Department described how their new airboats were ideal for reaching people in remote areas quickly, across an area encompassing 440-square miles of rural Miami-Dade County.
"While the airboats represent only a small fraction of the total force, the watercraft reach areas where no other boats can safely go"
On the other hand, conservation of the Everglades has become a factor impacting how airboats should be allowed access to these areas. This isn’t a matter of government overreach, but one of practicality, where airboats and their effects are an ongoing concern. The passage of the boats can disturb nesting waterfowl and other aquatic species, while leaving swaths of “tracks” in the shallow marshy water grasses that are slow to recover over time.
Everglades National Park has been a focal point for efforts of the National Park Service to impose new restrictions on airboats used by private individuals who continue accessing a 110-acre parcel in the Everglades that was added to the Park in 1989 (airboat use in the park is off limits). In 2015, a compromise of sorts was reached with members of the Airboat Association of Florida, allowing members to be “grandfathered in” to continue access to the area. Long-term, the deal marks the end of recreational airboats in the park for future generations, with an eye towards continuing the preservation of the Everglades as part of our protected national parklands.
Even in other areas where recreational airboats are still allowed, required boating regulations are necessary. Airboats must have an international orange flag mounted on a mast or flagpole at least 10 ft above the bottom of the boat. The engine must be equipped with a commercial muffler or exhaust system that muffles the sound of the engine. And commercial operators must undergo training of boater safety courses or a captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard (steps viewed as one way to reduce the number of airboat accidents). Even with these measures in place, the future of recreational airboating in Florida remains uncertain.
The deployment of airboats for law enforcement patrols isn’t just limited to the Florida Everglades. On the Rio Grande River, airboats of Border Patrol carrying teams of two to three agents operate downstream of the Rio Grande Dam in the shallow waters of the Southwestern border between Texas and Mexico. Missions here include interdiction of drug smugglers, human trafficking, and anti-terrorism operations. As far as illicit drugs being a concern, one official summed up the broad scope of the problem in 2019: “We’re seeing more methamphetamine, hard narcotics…as far as transit smuggling, it’s pretty much you name it they’ll smuggle it through whatever type of shipment.” In 2024, a multi-agency effort dubbed Operation Lone Star resulted in more than 40,600 criminal arrests, with a seizer of over 469 million doses of fentanyl in the process.
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Other advantages of these airboats include rapid response with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour; and alternately, approaching quietly at slow speeds to close the distance to illegal crossings. These agents are part of the “Riverine Force” – with airboats just one type of watercraft that work alongside the U.S. Coast Guard and other elements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. While the airboats represent only a small fraction of the total force, the watercraft reach areas where no other boats can safely go. Or as one Border Patrol agent, T.J. Harris, puts it: “riverine operations help patrol the border in ways that were impractical or maybe not even possible before.”
