JUPITER, Fla. — A viral video from a local boat captain is drawing attention to dangerous conditions at the Jupiter Inlet, where a shifting sandbar is creating hazards for boaters.
WATCH: Officials discussing potential solutions to fix the waterway
Captain Tyler Baruch, a Jupiter native and professional fishing captain of 15 years, posted a video calling on elected officials to act. The video has been viewed more than 400,000 times.
“Coming from someone who grew up here, and I just moved back recently, it's worse now than ever. And other local captains have said the same thing,” Baruch said.
Baruch said it is just a matter of time before someone dies.
"If you don't hit the cut perfectly, and you hit the sandbar and there's a wave, the wave can flip your boat, and you can either get crushed by the boat or potentially get knocked out and drowned," Baruch said.
He recalled a recent close call on the water.
"We almost flipped. We were pretty much vertical. The boat was almost about to flip. And I was so scared,” Baruch said.
Baruch said the dredging happening right now at the inlet is actually making the problem worse.
"There's been a dredge sitting right here. And they're putting that sand on the beach so the second we get a decent swell, that sand gets swept out of the beach and clogs up the inlet,” Baruch said.
He wants a solution soon.
“All I think they need to do is keep up consistent dredge pumping, just like we have in West Palm and other inlets… and then the end, it'll stay deep and everything will be fine,” Baruch said.
Col. Brandon Bowman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers addressed the situation.
"The Jupiter Inlet is one that is managed by the Jupiter Inlet Navigation District and we're working very closely with them to help them get additional permits,” Bowman said.
Congressman Brian Mast said the inlet is not a federally maintained channel, meaning the Corps cannot simply send equipment to fix it. He said there are additional complications with turtle nesting season.
"You got essentially three days left before you get into the turtle nesting season on that beach, so they can't necessarily dump it on the beach there," Mast said.
Today the Jupiter Inlet Navigation District was on a call with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Jupiter Inlet Navigation District (JID) confirmed that its 2026 sand trap dredging project is finished. Dredging was performed in two phases — from Jan. 17 through Feb. 15, and again from April 14 through April 26.
That dredging only addressed the sand trap inside the inlet. The dangerous sandbar conditions being reported by boaters are located outside the inlet mouth and the Jupiter Inlet Navigation District says it is not authorized to dredge there.
Unlike Lake Worth Inlet at the Port of Palm Beach, which is dredged and maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an established federal navigation channel, Jupiter Inlet is not such designated as a federal navigation channel.
"The Corps has previously declined establishing a navigation channel based on their benefit-to cost formula ratio. We hope to encourage them to revisit this."
Without that federal designation, Jupiter Inlet falls into what officials call a non-navigable inlet category. That designation carries a stark warning for boaters.
The JID says it is not authorized to dredge outside the inlet under its current authority. However, the agency says it has begun taking steps toward a longer-term solution.
The agency cautioned that establishing a full navigation channel would be a major undertaking, requiring a significant budget increase and permits from both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
