A 63-year-old man was hospitalized Sunday after a boat propeller struck him in the water near Fisher Island Marina. The man, who has not been named, was aboard a 17-foot boat with two other people around 11:10 a.m. when he jumped into the water in Norris Cut.
The boat’s propeller struck him, according to a statement from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as reported by the Miami Herald. He was taken to a nearby hospital.
The extent of his injuries was not immediately available, the Herald’s report notes. The FWC said the incident remains under investigation and has not released any other details, including how the propeller strike occurred or who was operating the boat.
A Pattern of Propeller Injuries Across South Florida Waters
This is not an isolated case in South Florida waters. In late November 2025, an 18-year-old man was injured by a boat propeller while swimming near Windley Key in the Florida Keys, with Yahoo News reporting that Monroe County Fire Rescue paramedics airlifted him to Jackson South Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
A similar incident left a man hospitalized after a boat propeller struck his leg while he was in the water off Fort Lauderdale Beach, according to CBS News Miami. In that case, the FWC said the man was diving about a mile offshore when he was hit in 60-foot-deep water.
Deadlier Collisions Have Rattled Biscayne Bay
Propeller strikes have also turned fatal elsewhere in the region. A woman was killed and a man was injured after both were thrown from their boat in Biscayne Bay near the Nixon Beach sandbar, with investigators telling CBS News Miami that the two victims were struck by the boat’s propellers after the unmanned vessel began spinning in circles. That report described the incident as the second fatal boating accident in Biscayne Bay in less than a week, coming after a 55-year-old North Miami man was killed and his 14-year-old son was seriously injured when their inflatable dinghy was struck by a vessel that then fled the scene.
Statewide Numbers Underscore the Risk on the Water
Florida recorded 685 reportable boating accidents in 2024, 26 more than the year before, and 81 boating fatalities, a jump of 22 from the previous year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Collisions with fixed objects were the leading accident type statewide, making up 31 percent of incidents, and 65 percent of operators involved in fatal accidents in 2024 had no formal boating safety training.
The state issued more than 74,000 Boating Safety Education ID cards in 2024, about 1,000 more than the prior year, even as Florida’s registered vessel count stood at 1,030,053, slightly fewer than in 2023. For now, the FWC says its investigation into Sunday’s Fisher Island Marina incident continues, with no further details released.
