Discover the legalities and guidelines surrounding burial at sea in the United States. Learn about the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), notification requirements, and considerations for a meaningful farewell.
It is legal to bury your dead at sea in the United States. The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) provides blanket permissions for citizens to dump bodies (and other things, including “man-made ice piers”) far out to sea, as long as the burial takes place at least three nautical miles from land and in ocean waters that are at least 600 feet deep.
There are some guidelines you must follow, such as wrapping the body in a natural fiber shroud and adding additional weight to make sure it sinks. You must also notify the EPA of the burial within 30 days.
You can use any boat for the burial, but you may want to run your plans by the charter company first. You cannot throw your beloved dog or the ashes of deceased pets in after them, as only human remains are authorized for burial at sea.
You can also throw real flowers and wreaths into the water after the burial, but nothing plastic or non-biodegradable.
If you want to make your loved one part of an artificial reef, you will need to consult with relevant state fisheries agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
You cannot light a ship afire or shoot a rocket filled with human remains into the sea. You also cannot attach your loved one to many balloons so they can peacefully float to their eternal rest in the deeps. This is because the EPA expects that the means of transportation for burial at sea would be a vessel or an aircraft that returns to land after the burial.
Hypothetically, if you had a powerful enough cannon to blast your loved one three miles out to sea, this would be acceptable as far as the “disposing of human remains” goes. However, other laws may apply, such as laws concerning “desecration of a corpse” or “destruction of evidence”.
Finally, you can drop one part of a loved one in the ocean, as long as the human remains originate from a single, deceased human and the remains are not intermixed with other deceased humans or body parts from living humans.
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