Abandoned and derelict vessels represent a serious environmental threat and a great financial burden on the responsible party. When the owner or person responsible for these crafts abandons their property, the large clean-up bills have to be assumed by someone. We still have several derelict and abandoned watercraft to deal with locally and the cost of this neglect is estimated in the millions of dollars, and it falls on someone other than the owner to foot the bill. So, who bears the responsibility, and what laws are in place to ensure derelict and abandoned vessels are removed safely and effectively?
The moment a boat reaches the end of its useful life, either following an accident or when its owner decides repairs and maintenance costs are not financially viable anymore, the vessel sometimes becomes abandoned or derelict. The cost of a clean-up is supposed to be the owner’s responsibility, and most responsible owners have insurance and the morality to take care of it themselves.
Wounded Nature-Working Veterans has recently started focusing on this dilemma and we are making a real environmental difference. Although there are many reasons we started working in this area, our belief is that salvage and removal operations are essential to our critical coastal waterways and tidal marshes all over the country and the world. It has been our observation that derelict and abandoned vessels are overlooked. Regardless of their cargo, almost all marine casualties represent a potential threat to the environment and oftentimes, it is only residents and boaters who stand between a marine casualty and an environmental catastrophe.
Removing these vessels can be a highly technical and labor-intensive process. The first step of any removal we undertake is removing any pollutant materials from the vessel. This usually means removing the keel, fuel cells, grey water tanks, batteries, fiberglass, grease, and paint; anything that can be a threat to the environment needs to be removed from the vessel.
We take all of our removals on a case-by-case basis. If our work in South Carolina alone is any indication, when multiple derelict and abandoned vessels mount up over time, the only people left to foot the bill are property owners who pay to have the vessels removed or volunteer groups like Wounded Nature-Working Veterans.
We are very fortunate to have several incredible partners like TowBoat US, Black Water Dredging and Recover, Squeaky’s Towning, the US Coast Guard, and the SC DHEC. We are trying to eliminate the issue by enlisting these partners to volunteer their time, materials, equipment, and labor to remove the debris and keep property owners or state and local governments from having to pay for disposal.
With our partners listed above and many others, we are cleaning waterways here in the United States and setting the precedent for coastal communities around the globe.
If you would like to see what we’ve been doing to make a real environmental difference since 2010, visit our Past Accomplishments page to read about each effort we’ve made to return our critical coastal waterways and tidal marshes to their original, pristine condition.
Please go to our Support page if you would like to help us accomplish our mission to make a real environmental difference.