This excellent article on derelict boats by Kevin Wadlow was taken from KeysInfoNet.com. The problem of abandoned boats is not limited to the Florida Keys but found up and down the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

Boats like this are scattered throughout the Keys.

No easy answers for derelict-boat problem
BY KEVIN WADLOW
kwadlow@keynoter.comAugust 15, 2015
State marine officers pointed to notorious derelict-vessel cases in Florida Keys waters as prime examples of the need for new rules.

“We see a lot of red dots in Monroe County,” said State Rep. Holly Raschein (R-Key Largo), referring to a state map showing 304 derelict vessels off Florida shores.

“Obviously it’s an issue here,” Raschein said at a Thursday workshop conducted by the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at the Murray E. Nelson Government and Cultural Center in Key Largo.

Removing derelict vessels “costs a lot of money,” she said, “and they’re a pain.”

FWC officers and staff outlined eight concepts being considered as the basis for a Florida Legislature bill to prevent some poorly maintained boats from sinking at anchor.

The rules could include stricter requirements to repair at-risk boats deemed likely to sink and requiring boats to be able to navigate on their own under power or sail.

Certain large boats — commercial boats more than 65 feet long or older boats made of wood or steel — could be required to post a bond at registration, since those type of vessels are very expensive to remove after a sinking.

“Some boats cost more than others to remove,” FWC attorney Emily Norton said. “The big ones cost a lot more.”

Program administrator Phil Horning noted boats in that description represent 3 to 5 percent of vessels removed with state money but “represent 50 percent of the removal costs.”

In 2009, the abandoned 84-foot gambling boat Pair-O-Dice was removed from a grounding off Key West, where it created a navigation hazard near a busy channel for months, state officials said. It was removed at a state cost approaching $125,000.

The derelict shrimp boat Santa Lucia caused a half-mile of seagrass scarring near the Keys in addition to costing $59,000 in state funds to remove, Horning said. A photo of the capsized shrimper opened the presentation to a crowd of about 50 people.

Many of the concepts would apply only to anchored boats, not those tied to a private dock or marina.

Rules that could force longtime liveaboards off the water concerned several speakers at the Key Largo meeting.

“Thousands of people down here cannot afford normal accommodations,” said Jon Strydom, a charter captain. “This is a really expensive area to live in, and we need these people down here. It’s already hard enough for them.”

“We don’t want to make anybody homeless,” FWC Capt. David Dipre said, but he noted that some vessels used as liveaboards are “half submerged and filled with cockroaches.”

“It might be a place to live but its not a great place to be,” Dipre said.

Vessels “are supposed to be operational so when [the next] Hurricane Wilma comes along, you can do something about it and take control of your own boat,” he said.

Henry Feddern and Anne Baxter said the state should consider some long-established sunken boats as part of the marine environment since they provide shelter. They pointed to the recent removals of a sunken barge off Rodriguez Key near Key Largo and a heavily damaged houseboat off the Upper Matecumbe Key bayside as examples.

Results of resident surveys taken at a series of meetings will be used to craft legislative proposals.

Now, here is a solution: Derelict Bounty Hunters! Listen Up FWC!

Track down the owners and make them pay. Fine them and I will track them down for 50% of the paid fines. Bounty hunters for boats!
Sonny Reeves

And here is another great idea from Skipper Burnham. Listen up FWC!

Give the general public access to state boat registration database so that we can contact the owner based on the FL number as it is bearing down on us when no one is aboard. Then there will be no problem about finding out who is the responsible owner. You will be able to know your neighbors soon after dropping your anchor just like you can by viewing the county property tax website for your home based on your street address.
David Burnham

Maybe it’s a sign of our economic times, but loss of any items, valuable or not, will certainly put a damper on a beautiful day in the Keys. This report is from South Dade News Leader.

$5,000 Bounty For Keys Marine Thieves

Posted: Thursday, August 6, 2015 3:55 pm | Updated: 4:15 pm, Thu Aug 6, 2015.
Frank Maradiaga
Marine thefts are on the rise in Monroe County. Pillaging water crafts and docks for expensive (and easily portable) gear has become an opportunistic gold mine for criminals.
To help curb this rising problem the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and Crime Stoppers of the Florida Keys are collectively offering $5,000 dollars for any information that leads to an arrest. That’s $2500 from Crime Stoppers and another $2500 from the Sheriff’s Office.
`We really need some help on these cases,’ said Sheriff Rick Ramsay in a statement. `We are doing everything we can possibly do, but we really need people to come forward and help us nail these criminals.’
Thefts can include cherry and costly GPS systems or simple fishing equipment. Basically anything that isn’t tied down and looks appealing.
The Sheriff department says they have been `inundated’ with reports of high-end electronics and thefts of lower units.
Police say the thefts are occurring countywide but are largely concentrated in the Middle and Lower Keys.
From a department release:
`Equipment is being taken from boats in residential canals, parked on the street on trailers and from boats stored at marinas. The investigations of these thefts is complicated by the fact that many victims are part time residents who don’t discover they have been victimized for days or even weeks. Additionally, the equipment being stolen is relatively easy to remove, to transport and to sell.’
Photos and some video clips from surveillance equipment are being circulated in the hopes that someone will be able to identify these alleged thieves.
`There are people out there who know what is going on. They know who is responsible. We want those people to pick up the phone and report it. You don’t have to tell us who you are. And we will pay you well for your information,’ said Sheriff Ramsay. `It is a win-win for the person who calls. They can make a substantial sum of money and the suspect or suspects they report will never know who turned them in.’
If you think you have the goods on these thieves contact the Sheriff’s Office at 305-481-8060. The Crime Stoppers hotline is 1-800-346-TIPS.

This reader is seeking advice from those of you who anchor in the Keys. With a 22 inch draft, his primary concerns have to be dropping the hook and going ashore. If you have advice to offer Skipper Novotny, please do so!

Hello, I am planning a sailing trip to the keys on my Nordica 16, 22 inch draft, from sunny Buffalo NY. I noticed a lot of your listed anchorages are in protected areas where according to the rules I read one cannot damage coral or sea grass. How does that work? Are there buoys or are these places where coral and sea grass are not an issue? I am rather confused as you can see after I read the slew of regs from the govt. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Regards
Jerry Novotny

This free pumpout service was initiated in 2012 and has been a real blessing for visiting cruisers. The program has been renewed for two years, but its future beyond this extension is uncertain as outlined in this article from KeyNews.com sent to us by good friends Chuck Baier and Susan Landry . See /?p=144790 for news on other pumpout service in the Keys.

Long-term future of pumpout program remains uncertain
BY BRIAN BOWDEN Free Press Staff
bbowden@keysnews.com
KEY LARGO — The county commission gave the OK on a new two-year agreement with the contractor tasked with providing a free Keys-wide mobile vessel sewage disposal service for liveaboards at its most recent meeting, but following expiration boat owners could start incurring fees.

The county currently contributes $380,000 to the program which comes at no cost to individual vessel owners. The dollars used to offset the cost of the program are pulled from boating improvement funds generated via annual vessel registrations.

The commission previously gave county officials direction to develop a new program that would begin to charge customers on a per pumpout basis come 2017.

“It’s going to be hard to start charging people,” County Administrator Roman Gastesi told commissioners at the March 18 meeting.

Gastesi said his staff was still looking at funding the program through state dollars or elsewhere before the agreement expires.

“There are a lot of people who do not agree with that position,” Mayor Danny Kolhage told Gastesi.

Kolhage and Commissioner Sylvia Murphy seemed to be in agreement that a new program charging individuals at least a nominal fee would be preferable. Kolhage pointed out that the funding spent offsetting the cost of the program could be put toward the removal of several derelict vessels the county has had on its radar for some time.

Pumpout USA Inc. has had the contract with the county since 2012. It pumps out up to 1,500 vessels a month under the new agreement.

The commission also unanimously approved acceptance of a Florida Department of Transportation easement in regards to a pedestrian bridge planned for construction over Marvin D. Adams Waterway at mile marker 103. The easement, at no cost the county, will give it jurisdiction over the bridge. Construction of the bridge is expected to begin in the fall.

A design outlining a boardwalk and other amenities, including a parking lot and bathroom facilities, at the Rowell’s Marina property at mile marker 104 was unanimously approved by the commission as well.

The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 15, at the Harvey Government Center in Key West.

bbowden@keysnews.com

As reported by Adam Linhardt in KeysNews.com, Alligator Reef Light (Islamorada), American Shoal Reef Light (Big Pine Key), Carysfort Reef Light (Key Largo), Sand Key Reef Light (Key West) and Sombrero Key Reef Light (Marathon)are scheduled to be replaced by brighter, more powerful LED lights.

New reef lights being installed
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

Saturday, February 7, 2015
Florida Keys maritime historians can breathe a sigh of relief as the Coast Guard has no plans to remove the historic reef lights throughout the island chain.
But they are scheduled to go dark this year.
The Coast Guard Sector Key West Aids to Navigation Team (ANT) is in the process of installing new, more powerful LED lights on single steel pilings near every historic reef light in the Keys. The cost to taxpayers will be about $100,000.
That cost should be negligible in the coming years as the ANT crews have been spending about $2 million the last few years repairing and maintaining the existing lights at Alligator Reef Light (Islamorada), American Shoal Reef Light (Big Pine Key), Carysfort Reef Light (Key Largo), Sand Key Reef Light (Key West) and Sombrero Key Reef Light (Marathon).
The problem has been the ANT crews have had to contract out the work needed to be done to the old historic lights to keep them up to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards at a high cost. The new, modern lights will be much more efficient in terms not only cost, but also operationally, said Coast Guard ANT Chief Jeff Hunter.
The old historic light structures are not going to be taken down, but they will go dark when the new lights are installed.
The new lights are going up very close to the old structures, Hunter said. They will leave a smaller environmental footprint and were approved by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as per the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
“The old lights project about nine miles out to sea and, in our opinion, we just don’t need them to project that far anymore,” Hunter said. “Things like modern GPS and navigational tools make that possible. The new lights will project about seven to eight miles out, just past the marine sanctuary.”
Ships larger than 164 feet (or 50 meters) cannot legally transit sanctuary waters outside of the main shipping channel, and the reef (warning) lights are intended for those vessels more than smaller recreational boats, Hunter said.
The white reef lights are not to be confused with green and red navigational lights more commonly seen throughout the island chain.
“That’s really what our reef lights are for — to keep the big ships out there and let them know there’s a hazardous reef nearby,” Hunter said. “As long as the light is projected past the boundary, those ships know they need to avoid the area.”
The ANT crews have put up new lights at Carysfort and Sand Key reef lights. The rest are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, Hunter said.
“Obviously, weather is always a concern when working out on the water,” Hunter said.
Hunter stressed that the old reef lights — some are 100 years old or more and as much as 80 feet tall — aren’t going anywhere.
“Don’t think we’re abandoning them or that they’re going to fall into the reef anytime soon,” Hunter said. “They’re just not up to our structural standards when we have to work on them. I would add that the historical lenses were removed on the old lights years ago and what’s up there now is just a traditional beacon and not the historic light.”
Meanwhile, a system of offshore weather stations previously attached to the historic reef lights that once provided information to mariners, anglers and scientists has been defunded, said Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent Sean Morton.
The program was called Sustained Ecological Research Related to the Management of the Florida Keys Seascape, or SEAKEYS. The station once provided real-time weather, tide and current data to the public free of charge via the Internet, but those days appear over.
“Funding for that program came through a grant and (it) ran out,” Morton said.
Whether the program will come back remains dim.
“I doubt it,” Morton said. “We tried and basically the message we got was that it most likely will not be funded. Attempts were made to a different part of NOAA in Miami collecting some information, but not like we had at each of the lights.”
Hunter added the Coast Guard has been having problems with people climbing the old reef lights, which is a federal trespassing offense.
“The Alligator Reef Light (Islamorada) is the worst,” Hunter said.
Residents need to know that they will be arrested and forced to appear in federal court if seen climbing the lights, Hunter said.
alinhardt@keysnews.com