BEAUFORT — The Carteret County Board of Commissioners has unanimously adopted an ordinance giving the county authority to manage abandoned and derelict vessels in its waters.
The action came Monday during the board’s monthly meeting in the county administration building.
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Also on Monday, New Hanover County commissioners approved their first reading of an abandoned vessel ordinance, authorizing that county’s sheriff’s office to tackle abandoned vessels in navigable waters. The second reading is set for the board’s June 17 meeting, according to county documents.
The Carteret County ordinance states that abandoned and derelict vessels are “expressly prohibited in navigable waters within the jurisdiction of unincorporated Carteret County,” with the exception of archaeological remains including shipwrecks, cargo and anything else in place more than 10 years.
An abandoned vessel is considered one that is moored for more than a month without permission of the property owner, is unmanned and slipping anchor, and a derelict vessel is in danger of sinking or has sunk, or is an immediate danger.
Sharon Griffin, Carteret interim county attorney, said during the meeting that the ordinance is not aimed at the vast majority of boat owners who take care of their boats, like owners who have registered their boats, had safety checks, and made sure the vessel is properly anchored or secured to a dock.
The ordinance is for those “vessels that we occasionally see that basically have sunk or are in terrible condition or have been completely abandoned and are threatening somebody else’s property, or boat or dock,” Griffin said. “We wanted to give our law enforcement an opportunity to be able to enforce that. They didn’t really have a good means of doing that.”
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Griffin said that much of the language in the county statute mirrors the state law, including that if “the vessel that’s moored, anchored or otherwise located for more than 30 consecutive days in any 180 consecutive day period without the permission of the dock owner, marina owner, or property owner, that’s directly out of the statute.”
Other examples she noted of an abandoned vessel is one that is slipping anchor and causing a significant danger to other people’s property or boat.
“A derelict vessel is one of those that we occasionally see out in our coastal waters that has just been abandoned by someone and is resting on the bottom,” she said.
The statute also includes those who do not have current state registrations, and those being used as living quarters but don’t have any method of getting rid of waste and are causing an environmental problem with the removal of the abandoned and derelict vessels.
“There’s also an opportunity for civil penalties, and that’s just because there are occasions when someone really just will not move their boat, and we need to give law enforcement the opportunity to enforce that,” she said.
County Commissioner Ed Wheatly wanted to know where the money would come from for the costs to remove and dispose of the boats.
Griffin responded that the county had spoken with several different agencies and grant money is available to pay for vessel removal.
“And if you’ll notice also in the ordinance, the first paragraph specifically states this is not obligating the county, the board of commissioners to appropriate funds for this,” she said. “So we’re not trying to obligate our board of commissioners to go fundraising and to find the money for this. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to start this through some grant funding, perhaps some law enforcement programs.”
Chairman Jimmy Farrington added that the North Carolina Coastal Federation had reached out to the county to help with removal. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.
Farrington continued that the commission had given the ordinance “a lot of thought,” and the issue had been brought it up almost a year ago.
“We really don’t want to get in the weeds with this,” Farrington said, or get on personal property, but these are the boats that you see sitting out there that have sunk, that could cause very serious damage.
“We’re not getting into the boat-control business, we’re just trying to clean up what’s out there,” Farrington said.
