Derelict Boats a Major Issue in the Florida Keys
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
Comments from Cruisers (7)
When a boat is registered it should be required to be fully insured, then if it sinks or goes ashore it’s an insurance company that must remove it. Peter Hoyt
The state should act to remove the boats and have them auctioned or otherwise disposed of. It is the state’s responsibility to keep the waterway clear. Just do whatever is cheapest and most cost effective. I agree that the owners should be tracked and fined. The Floriida legislature should make it a crime to abandon a boat in a public waterway.
clean out the hulls of the derelicts and remove fuels and other hazards. then tow them out offshore and sink them to form artificial reefs. finally bill the last registered owner for the expense. updating the law to allow vessels abandoned for one year as derelict would help.
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.
There is a difference between a maintained vessel and a near-derelict tub. The biggest fear I have is that the FWC and other state and federal regulators are assuming greater adversarial positions than ever, rather than supportive of the marine and cruising community.
Making sure vessels are duly registered and making sure the owners carry their responsibility for it. The last owner should be responsible for damages caused. In other words… Does the vessel have proper papers? Think about that when you’re selling, or buying, a boat.
Another issue to consider….. If your boat is on her last sea-leg…. how do you put her to bed for the final time if she’s not on a trailer?
And, the bounty idea for finding the scoundrels is a good idea, too.
Typical government solution is to make those of us that are responsible to pay for the bottom 10 percenters that abuse the system.
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!