As posted before, floats on the 139 as per RFM are armed for flight over water, there is no speed indicated for arming. There is no gray area, companies who do not arm over water at high speeds due to worries about un-commanded activation are breaching the RFM and as such if they have an accident and lose the heli with the floats disarmed I guess the insurance company will have a field day.
About GOM ops, I was shocked to hear that at least one operator does not operate the 139 as a CAT A maching (Class 1), only CAT B, what is the point in having the machine and operating it that way?
Regards,
Lunar