SNEADS FERRY — Nearly a dozen abandoned marine vessels left to rot in North Carolina’s coastal waters are expected to be removed by July.

Crews this week pulled a dilapidated commercial fishing trawler and a sunken cabin cruiser from Wheeler Creek, a working waterway nestled off the New River in Sneads Ferry.

Mainstream Commercial Divers Inc., an underwater construction, maintenance, inspection and commercial diving company headquartered in Murray, Kentucky, also removed two rusted, battered barges from waters in the Onslow County fishing village.

On Monday, crews removed two vessels from the waters around Carolina Beach. Removal of the stranded commercial shrimper Claire Skye is scheduled for later this year. The vessel, currently stranded in Stump Sound near Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve in Holly Ridge, cannot be moved until its resident osprey chicks leave their nest built atop one of the trawler’s outriggers.

This marks the latest wave of abandoned and derelict vessel, or ADV, removals spearheaded by the North Carolina Coastal Federation through a $450,000 grant from the BoatUS Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on safe, accessible recreational boating for all Americans and promotes environmental stewardship.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, was awarded the grant earlier this year to oversee the removal and disposal of 12 ADVs littering waters in Carteret, Chowan, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

Ted Wilgis, the Coastal Federation’s marine debris program manager, said Wednesday that the organization is actively working to remove another 30 ADVs.

“There’s probably another 10 to 20 more that we know of that we can’t get funding for,” he said, noting that money the organization has received through a four-year, $4.5 million federal grant, state appropriations, and BoatUS Foundation for ADV and marine debris removal is expected to run dry by late summer.

Along with seeking state funding for ADV removal, the organization is working with state lawmakers on legislation to establish a formal North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission abandoned and derelict vessel program, grant liability immunity to the commission, it’s agents and contractors, and other state agencies during removal operations, and permit emergency removals during declared emergencies.

“There are hundreds of vessels out there that haven’t been investigated yet,” Wilgis said. “There are areas where there are a lot of vessels that are kind of in a limbo state. There’s a big demand for removals and, especially in this economy, there’s going to be more and more.”

Unwanted and derelict vessels are often left by owners who can no longer afford to maintain them. During severe storms, some vessels break from their moorings and are either left adrift only to sink in tidal areas or strand in marshes, on shorelines or in reefs.

ADVs obstruct waterways and pose serious pollution risks because of their potential to leak fuel and other hazardous materials such as hydraulic fluid and oil. Most recreational boats are made of fiberglass, which can break down over time in the water.

ADV removal is usually a painstaking process that in some cases can take up to a couple of years to complete, depending on the location and condition of the vessel. Removal can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars for smaller recreational vessels to more than $100,000.

“It varies on where it is and how long it’s been out there,” Wilgis said.

BoatUS Foundation launched a national initiative supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program to remove hundreds of ADVs from coastal waterways. The project also includes the development of a national database to track ADVs.

More than $7 million in grants have been awarded to cover the costs of direct ADV removals in Alaska, Guam, Oregon, Washington, Louisiana, Maine, the U.S. Virgin Islands and North Carolina, according to BoatUS Foundation Project Coordinator Michael Moore.

The organization is hosting in early December its Turning the Tide Summit, a four-day event where government agencies, environmentalists, marine professionals and recycling and waste management experts from across the country will gather to discuss ways to responsibly and sustainably remove and dispose of ADVs and boating-related debris, and share new technologies and innovative recycling programs.

More than 450 ADVs have been removed from North Carolina’s coastal waters either through the Coastal Federation’s marine debris removal program, local governments, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management or the Wildlife Resources Commission, Wilgis said.

In 2020, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized and funded the commission to inspect, investigate and remove ADVs associated with Hurricane Florence and other coastal storms. The agency also publishes a database that identifies ADVs and prioritizes their removal.

Beach towns and coastal counties have also in recent years taken steps authorizing their law enforcement agencies to remove abandoned vessels within their jurisdictions.

If you’ve worked on removing abandoned vessels, developing recycling solutions for fiberglass or shrinkwrap, or building programs to prevent boating-related debris, the BoatUS Foundation wants to hear from you.

June 1 is the deadline to apply as a speaker at the 2026 Turning the Tide Summit. Interested presenters can apply online.

The summit is set for Dec. 6-9 in New Orleans and organizers say it will bring together government agencies, marine professionals, environmental experts, and waste management leaders from across the country to share best practices, emerging technologies, and innovative programs for the responsible removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

The BoatUS Foundation is specifically seeking speakers with experience in the following fields:

• Abandoned and derelict vessel removal and vessel turn-in programs.
• Sustainable disposal and recycling solutions for abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.
• Initiatives or programs focused on preventing abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

The summit is open to attendees beyond just speakers. Environmental experts, boating and waste industry leaders, and policymakers are all encouraged to participate. Programming will include panel discussions, keynote addresses, and resources focused on abandoned and derelict vessels and sustainable disposal solutions for boating-related waste, including fiberglass and shrinkwrap.

The Turning the Tide Summit is part of the BoatUS Foundation’s broader ADV Program, which aims to remove abandoned and derelict vessels from the nation’s coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The program is also developing a national database to track abandoned and derelict vessel locations and monitor the removal progress. Both the summit and the broader program are supported by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has received funding to remove a dozen abandoned and derelict vessels from waters in Carteret, Chowan, Hyde, New Hanover and Onslow counties.

BoatUS Foundation announced last week that the Coastal Federation, along with nine other organizations spanning five states, one reservation and two territories, has been selected for the funding.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program funds this program administered by BoatUS Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes safe, clean and responsible boating. The Coastal Federation is a nonprofit member organization that works to protect and restore the state’s coast.

“This award provides critical support for removing vessels from working harbors,” Coastal Federation Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis said in a release. “These communities, already facing tight budgets and rising expenses, do not have enough resources or funding to remove and dispose of these vessels. This award will enable the North Carolina Coastal Federation to continue its partnership with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and local governments to remove and dispose of ADVs affecting the livelihood and environment of our coastal communities.”

The award for $550,000 is to go to the removal and disposal of vessels ranging in size from 24-foot recreational boats to commercial fishing trawlers up to 75 feet long out of waters in Edenton, Engelhard, Swan Quarter, Morehead City, Beaufort, Marshallberg, Sneads Ferry, Holly Ridge and Carolina Beach, according to the nonprofit.

Organizers have put out an all-call for speakers who can share their experiences with responsible and sustainable removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

Hosted by the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 2026 Turning the Tide Summit is set for Dec. 6-9 in New Orleans.

During the summit, there will be panel discussions and keynote addresses that focus on abandoned and derelict vessels and sustainable disposal solutions for boating-related waste, including fiberglass and shrink-wrap.

Organizers said they are looking for speakers who can share their experience and expertise regarding the following:

• Projects pertaining to abandoned and derelict vessel removals and vessel turn-in programs.
• Projects and efforts that focused on sustainable disposal and recycling solutions for abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.
• Initiatives and/or programs geared towards preventing abandoned and derelict vessels and boating-related debris.

The deadline to apply online is June 1.

The BoatUS Foundation supports projects selected through their national grant program for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels throughout coastal and marine areas of the United States.

The summit is part of the foundation’s Abandoned and Derelict Vessels Program, which worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to launch on a national database launched last fall to pinpoint locations of abandoned and derelict vessels and track their removal.

Pender County has become the latest local government to adopt rules prohibiting boat owners from leaving abandoned and derelict vessels in public waterways.

County commissioners on Monday unanimously adopted an ordinance amendment that allows the Pender County Sheriff’s Office to enforce the removal of abandoned and junk boats in waters within that office’s jurisdiction.

A boat owner will be given a 30-day notice to remove a derelict or abandoned vessel. If the owner does not remove the boat within that timeframe, the county will notify the state Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina Coastal Federation that the boat is ready for removal.

The ordinance amendment aligns with that of Surf City, where elected officials agreed earlier this year to enact similar rules.

Pender County Planning and Community Development Director Daniel Adams explained to commissioners Monday that the ordinance amendment would prevent a boat owner from moving his or her boat from water within one jurisdiction to another to avoid fronting the costs to have it removed.

Thus was the case earlier this year, when a boat owner was notified by Surf City law enforcement that his boat would have to be pulled from public waters within that town’s jurisdiction. 

The owner moved the boat outside of town limits and into a public waterway in the county, Adams said.

In 2020, the Wildlife Resources Commission was given legislative authority to investigate, inspect and remove abandoned and derelict vessels.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, has since that same year received more than $3 million in state and federal funds to remove junked vessels and hundreds of tons of marine debris littering coastal marsh lands and cluttering spoil islands. 

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.

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.”

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.

Plans to pull out a dozen abandoned and derelict vessels from New Hanover County waters are in motion.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, marine contractors, local governments and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are working together this week to remove the 12 vessels from different locations in New Hanover County, including Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach.

The work began last week and is expected to last for the next several days.

“It takes a huge coordinated effort to find the owners, authorize the removal, and dispose of these boats from where they have been abandoned,” Coastal Federation Marine Debris Program Lead and Coastal Scientist Ted Wilgis said in a statement. “Without the support of our local governments, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, and the efforts of the Wildlife Resources Commission, we wouldn’t be able to remove these vessels and protect our coastal waters and habitats.”

The Coastal Federation has removed 110 vessels from the state’s waterways since 2021. The organization and Wildlife Resources Commission, which has removed more than 200 vessels in the last few years, plan to pull an additional 40 vessels from waters from Pasquotank to Brunswick counties by the end of the year.

Funding is through the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program, part of the federal agency’s nearly $6 billion total investment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Local governments, state agencies and the Coastal Federation are looking into ways to increase penalties for abandoned vessels, develop voluntary measures to reduce abandoned vessels, and use insurance and ownership transfer requirements to increase the vessel owners’ share of removal costs, the organization said.

The vessel removal is under the organization’s Marine Debris Program that is focused on ensuring that storm-related debris, lost fishing gear and derelict vessels are properly located and removed.

The public is encouraged to report abandoned or derelict vessels to the Wildlife Resources Commission via email to adv@ncwildlife.org. The agency also maintains a map of current abandoned and derelict vessels.

Carteret County officials are set to consider proposed language that would authorize removal and disposal of abandoned and derelict vessels in navigable waters.

A violation could result in a $100 per offense civil penalty, along with remedies to recover costs incurred by the county.

County commissioners are expected to discuss the proposed ordinance during their meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at 302 Courthouse Square in the Administration Building in Beaufort.

Several other coastal counties and municipalities have adopted similar ordinances to deal with the problem of abandoned boats. The proposed language would define an abandoned vessel as one left 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, boat slip owner or property owner of the riparian corridor in which the vessel is located.”

The definition would also include vessels anchored “or affixed for any period of time” within 75 feet of any other legally anchored vessel or mooring, private dock or marina without the owner’s permission.

Any unmanned vessel at anchor and lacking working anchor lights would also be considered abandoned.

A derelict vessel would be one that’s in danger of sinking, has sunk, is resting on the bottom or a hazard to navigation, people or other boats or real property.

No display of current state, federal or foreign registration when requested by a law officer also counts as derelict, as does a live-aboard vessel lacking proper facilities. Barnacle-laden vessels, substantially dismantled and unable to be used for navigation, would also be considered derelict.

The ordinance would make exceptions for shipwrecks and archaeological remains, and it lays out the steps for notice, removal and recovery, as well as penalties.

In the years since Hurricane Florence ravaged North Carolina’s coast, hundreds of abandoned and broken-down boats have been removed from coastal waterways in the state.

Since government agencies and a nonprofit partnered up in the months after Florence to get unwanted, dilapidated vessels out of coastal waters, those waterways have been cleared of more than 300 of nearly 500 abandoned and derelict vessels cataloged after the September 2018 hurricane.

A small number of local governments have initiated and overseen the removal of 40 such vessels from within their jurisdictions and more are stepping up efforts to manage on a local level junked and abandoned boats.

Just days into the New Year, North Topsail Beach aldermen unanimously adopted an ordinance granting its police department authority to get rid of abandoned or derelict vessels in navigable waters within the town’s jurisdiction.

North Topsail’s fellow island towns are expected this month to follow suit.

And while the numbers of these eyesores in waterways have greatly dwindled since 2021, there will inevitably be more vessels left abandoned and broken down that will need to be removed.

That prospect has shifted the focus on keeping the state’s coastal waters free and clear from derelict vessels by taking a proactive approach, one being promoted to state legislators to create a permanent, state-run program designed to encourage boat owners to turn in their unwanted vessels.

“I think we’re doing a really good job of removals and we have to maintain that, but now focus on the prevention aspect as much as possible,” said Ted Wilgis, coastal scientist and marine debris program manager for the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, and the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management have overseen the removal of more than 100 boats since March 2021.

Nearly 200 derelict vessels have been removed or are under contract for removal by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission since that same year. The commission was given legislative authority to investigate, inspect and remove abandoned and derelict vessels in 2020.

“Right now, we’re kind of putting a patchwork together because we don’t have a permanent program and a funded program,” Wilgis said. “We are trying to come up with other ways to fill those gaps so having local governments, municipalities institute a program is a very good step, but there will still be some gaps in the coverage and not every jurisdiction can afford to go out and assess the vessels. Some jurisdictions don’t have that money. So, unless fines cover it, they just can’t do that. And, it’s a lot of work.”

North Topsail Beach Town Manager Alice Derian said in an email that the town has recently partnered with the Coastal Federation to remove rigging from an abandoned shrimp trawler in New River Inlet.

The newly adopted ordinance allows “the Town to have a process in place to address any potential future issues and is another measure the Town is taking to protect our sensitive coastal habitat,” Derian wrote.

Surf City Police Chief Phillip Voorhees last month asked town council members to adopt an updated ordinance giving the department the power to have derelict vessels pulled from waters within its jurisdiction.

He explained in a telephone interview that while the town has not had serious issues with abandoned vessels cluttering local waters – only a handful have been removed since 2018 — “We just needed to be able to have a recourse and to have it removed besides looking to our federal or state partners for help.”

“This just basically gives us the authority to be able to remove a vessel if we have to,” he said. “This is really so that we can keep our waterways open and safe, and reduce environmental impacts from any type of fuel or sewage or toxic material getting into the waterway.”

Voorhees asked the town council to repeal the current ordinance regarding abandoned boats, one that outlaws derelict vessels in Surf City waters, but stipulates that only the owner of the boat may remove it.

The North Carolina General Assembly last year approved a measure granting all three towns on Topsail Island authority to adopt ordinances that gives the towns jurisdiction over removing abandoned boats from waters within their town limits.

Surf City’s proposed ordinance defines abandoned vessels as those moored, anchored or “otherwise located” for more than 30 days within a 180-consecutive day period. Unattended boats deemed in significant disrepair, at risk of sinking, and a concern to the public and environment are also regulated in the proposed ordinance.

Violators face civil fines of $100 per day and criminal misdemeanor charges under the proposed rule.

Boat owners will be required to remove a vessel within 10 days after being contacted by the police department to avoid being fined. Fines have to be paid within 30 days.

“I would try to work with the vessel owner because I want to get the vessel removed,” Voorhees said. “I don’t want to get to the point where we’re giving fines and charging people. I want to get the vessels removed and make sure there’s no impacts to the environment and for the safety of other boaters.”

The proposed ordinance is expected to be considered for adoption at the town council’s meeting Wednesday.

An “almost identical ordinance” will be presented to the Topsail Beach Board of Commissioners during that board’s meeting that same day, according to Topsail Beach Town Manager Doug Shipley.

The towns plan to pass costs associated with removing junked and abandoned boats to the vessel owner.

Costs can be substantial depending on the size of the vessel, location and whether extra precautions have to be put into place because of potential hazardous environmental impacts.

Marine services firm Sea Tow estimates the cost to remove a vessel at about $300 per foot. Additional fees may be incurred depending on whether a boat needs to be stored or demolished.

The Wildlife Resources Commission has been appropriated more than $2 million to address and remove abandoned and broken-down boats along the coast.

Since 2020, the Coastal Federation has received more than $3 million in state and federal funds to remove junked vessels and hundreds of tons of marine debris littering coastal marsh lands and cluttering spoil islands.

“You’re talking millions of dollars that have been spent on cleaning up a lot of vessels,” Wilgis said. “I don’t know what the percentage is, but it’s fairly high in the sense that people have walked away from these and so that’s just not fair to the environment and it’s not fair to the taxpayer to have people foot that bill for something that could have been done a lot better.”

The goal, Wilgis said, is to create a comprehensive, permanently funded program overseen by one state agency that supports and works with local jurisdictions.

“We want to make sure that there’s layers of coverage for these vessels and we’re not just kind of trying to fill in the gaps that we have,” he said. “I would say that all the partners, especially the (North Carolina) Division of Coastal Management and Wildlife Resources Commission have really dedicated a lot of time and effort to this and they’ve been incredible to work with. Everybody wants a good program. The hard part is figuring out a way to do it that is fair to the owners and also protect the state and protects our environment. We’ve made a lot of good progress. We want to keep that momentum going and we will get there.”

Updated at 11 a.m. Tuesday: Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Friday Senate Bill 465, “Cities/Remove & Dispose of Abandoned Vessels.”

Original report “Bill to OK removal of abandoned vessels awaits signature,” follows below:

Cities and now all county governments have the authority to remove abandoned vessels from navigable waters within their jurisdictions under a bill passed recently by the North Carolina General Assembly.

Legislative action on Senate Bill 465 came to a close on Thursday morning when the House approved the bill in a 108-0 vote.

The bill must be signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper, who was presented the proposed law Friday.

The bill adds language to an existing general statute that allowed only the 20 Coastal Area Management Act counties to adopt ordinances to manage removal and disposal of abandoned vessels.

Abandoned vessels are defined as those either moored, anchored, or located more than 30 consecutive days within a 180-consecutive-day timespan without a dock owner’s permission, or a boat in danger of sinking, already sunk or resting on the bottom, poses a navigation hazard or is an immediate danger to other vessels.

Underwater archeological remains including shipwrecks, vessels, cargoes, and tackle in place for more than a decade are not considered abandoned and may not be moved without the approval of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Sens. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, Tom McInnis, R-Cumberland, and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, introduced the bill April 3.

A bill to give all North Carolina counties and cities authority to address abandoned and derelict vessels has made it through the state Senate and is now in a House committee.

Introduced April 3 by Sens. Michael A. Lazzara, R-Onslow, Tom McInnis, R-Cumberland, and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, the bill passed unanimously April 20 in the Senate. The House on April 25 approved its first reading and sent the bill to the rules, calendar, and operations committee.

Senate Bill 465 would add and amend language to an existing general statute, “Removal and disposal of abandoned and junked motor vehicles; abandoned vessels.”

The current rule allows for the 20 Coastal Area Management Act counties to adopt ordinances to manage removal and disposal of abandoned vessels.

The measure would give local and county governments authorization to adopt ordinances regarding the abandonment and removal of vessels in navigable waters. The provision limiting the rules to CAMA counties would be removed.

An “abandoned vessel” would be defined as a vessel that is moored, anchored, or otherwise located for more than 30 consecutive days in any 180-consecutive-day period without permission of the dock owner, or is in danger of sinking, has sunk, is resting on the bottom, is a hazard to navigation or is an immediate danger to other vessels.

Shipwrecks, vessels, cargoes, tackle and other underwater archeological remains in place for more than 10 years are not considered abandoned and are not be removed without the approval of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Two abandoned commercial shrimping trawlers submerged in the Intracoastal Waterway in Holden Beach are in the process of being removed this week, an effort to clean up harmful marine debris.

Brunswick County and North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, teamed up to remove the two abandoned and derelict vessels, the 65-foot-long Miss Evans and the Capt. Jeff. Both trawlers are beyond repair or salvage. The owners have granted permission for the trawlers to be removed and properly disposed of.

The federation is organizing the removal with contractor, Mainstream Commercial Divers with offices in Charleston, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Mainstream’s team will coordinate the environmental protection aspect of the removal through the use of debris and oil booms, removal of all hazardous materials from the vessels and onsite monitoring. A land-based crane will remove and dismantle the trawlers.

The debris will be placed into dumpsters and taken to the landfill for disposal.

The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners approved a landfill fee waiver for the disposal of these two derelict vessels during their Nov. 15 regular meeting. The estimated landfill disposal fees of $8,000 to $10,000 can now be used to remove more vessels.

The site of the removal operations and waters surrounding the trawlers are closed to the public during the removal operations. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program Emergency Hurricane Funding supported the project through the federation. 

The removals currently underway close out a yearlong effort to remove abandoned and derelict vessels and large-scale hurricane marine debris from Brunswick County, the federation said.

The state first granted Brunswick County the authority to address abandoned vessels in 2013. The county adopted an ordinance in 2017 to manage abandoned and derelict vessels. The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office marine patrol monitors boats that are discovered at anchor to avoid further abandonment. 

A $295,000 project to remove an abandoned vessel from the beach south of Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Oregon Inlet Campground is expected to begin Monday.

Cape Dredging Inc. from Buxton will remove the vessel. The project is expected to take about 30 days.

The former scallop boat, previously named the Ocean Pursuit and Cameron Scott, ran aground in early March 2020 and became abandoned after the National Park Service made unsuccessful attempts to have the owner claim and remove the vessel.

“The National Park Service is continuing our attempts to recover costs associated with the removal of the derelict vessel from its registered owner,” David Hallac, superintendent of National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a release. “This process has taken longer than expected, so Cape Hatteras National Seashore determined it was necessary to use a combination of fund sources to remove the vessel before it potentially becomes more expensive to remove later and to minimize impacts to the natural environment.”

Park Service officials said that during the project, areas around the vessel will be marked as a construction zone and all unauthorized persons should stay clear. Other than the small construction zone and minor traffic delays due to the transport of vessel pieces, there is not expected to be impacts to recreational beach access.

Cape Dredging Inc. will perform the following tasks to remove the vessel:

• Remove existing sand that has accumulated around the vessel.
• Remove deck structures.
• Remove all sand and water from compartments under deck surface.
• Cut vessel into smaller, manageable pieces and transport these pieces onto a tractor trailer for removal to appropriate disposal or recycling site.
• Restore the natural shape and slope to match surrounding beach.

A project began Monday to remove select abandoned and derelict vessels from the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is coordinating the project funded through a National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program grant award with Dare County and the state Division of Coastal Management.

The goal of the project is to remove at least 20 abandoned and derelict vessels that currently harm important habitat such as oyster reef, submerged aquatic vegetation, shallow subtidal and coastal wetlands in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary, according to the federation.

Division of Coastal Management staff identified numerous abandoned and derelict vessels and other large-scale marine debris negatively impacting different habitats within the Currituck Banks and Kitty Hawk Woods component of the North Carolina Coastal Reserve. Additional abandoned and derelict vessels have been identified throughout Dare County and some pose a threat to safe navigation.

The project will conclude when contractor Moran Environmental Recovery has removed the targeted vessels.

Another goal of this grant-funded project is to create a replicable case study on how to clean up abandoned and derelict vessels and other medium- and large-scale marine debris by combining local, state and federal resources and make it available to a broad range of stakeholders.

This effort is in conjunction with other North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan efforts. The Action Plan provides a framework for strategically reducing the amount and impact of marine debris along North Carolina’s coast for the next five years.

To learn about the progress of this work and the federation’s efforts to create a coast that is free of marine debris, visit nccoast.org/marinedebris. Contact Michael Flynn with any questions at michaelf@nccoast.org or 252-473-1607. 

As the eighth annual North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium was taking place online last month, work was about to begin on removing an abandoned and derelict vessel from Onslow County waters near Swansboro.

Ben Solomon, environmental specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, shared the news about the removal of the 50-foot shrimp trawler during the symposium Feb. 10-12. He, along with other stakeholders of the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan gave short presentations on projects taking place since the plan’s introduction at the 2020 Marine Debris Symposium in Beaufort.

The commercial shrimp trawler in Queens Creek, near Hammocks Beach State Park, has been removed and the contractor has completed a bottom scan to ensure that all debris related to this vessel was removed, Solomon told Coastal Review Online Monday.

The salvage contractor arrived on site on Feb. 15, but there were project delays due to the deteriorated vessel structure and poor weather conditions.

“First one down, quite a few to go,” he said, mentioning that the Wildlife Commission is in the process of beginning a few other removal projects in Carteret County. The North Carolina Coastal Federation also is gearing up to remove vessels on the coast in the next couple of weeks, as well.

The federation announced Monday that more than 80 vessels will be removed starting this month in partnership with the commission and the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

An initiative of the federation, the Marine Debris Action Plan leadership team spent years collaborating before the final plan was unveiled last year.

Sara Hallas, education coordinator for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, explained to the couple dozen attendees of the symposium in February that the federation works to protect water quality and found that marine debris is playing a critical role in effecting water quality and habitats.

The federation has made ridding the coast of marine debris one of its five major goals as an organization, Hallas said. “We realized that this was an important factor to others as well,” inspiring the federation to recruit a leadership team to compile the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan.

The team includes along with Hallas, Rachel Bisesi, Sarah Bodin, Bonnie Mitchell and Leslie Vegas, all with the federation; Paula Gillikin, central sites manager for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve; Gloria Putnam, coastal resources and communities specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant; and Lisa Rider, North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium organizer and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch executive director.

Hallas said during the symposium that the purpose of the plan is to have a strategic approach to collaborate efforts over the next five years to reduce marine debris and its impacts.

The plan has five goals: lead and coordinate, prevent, remove, prevent and remove abandoned and derelict vessels, and research and assessment.

“The Advisory and Implementation Committee met recently, and it was apparent that the collaboration that the action plan has inspired has been one of the major keys to success. I’m excited to see this positive energy continue building, as we keep making forward progress on implementing the action plan,” Hallas told Coastal Review in a follow-up interview.

This committee has representatives from the Crystal Coast Waterkeeper, Coast Guard, American Chemistry Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, North Carolina Aquarium at Jennette’s Pier, Carolina Recycling Association, Plastic Ocean Project, Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, town of Beaufort, Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Management, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Carteret Big Sweep and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Each goal has subcommittees to give the work momentum and keep moving forward, Hallas said during the symposium.

Jan Farmer is the Topsail Area coordinator for Ocean Friendly Establishments, which coordinates with businesses to make environmentally friendly decisions such as reducing the use of single-use plastics.

Farmer said to symposium attendees that the business education subcommittee, under the goal to prevent, has designed a survey to gain baseline knowledge on how businesses feel about single-use items. Late last year, the subcommittee added COVID-19-related questions because some changes in priorities were expected.

The survey is available online now and currently being distributed to a wide variety of businesses.

The state-implemented North Carolina Green Travel Initiative members already provided survey responses, which Farmer said is about a quarter of the anticipated volume of replies.

“While these preliminary results indicate that many respondents feel reducing or eliminating single-use products is a priority, COVID has caused 25% of these businesses to shift their priorities surrounding single-use items,” she said. “At the same time, more than half of the respondents have indicated that their volume of waste generated has increased due to COVID.”

Farmer added that the initial survey results show that Styrofoam appears to be the least preferred to-go packaging, with most businesses looking to invest in biodegradable or compostable products.

The results of the survey will be used to tailor business education programs.

Paula Farnell, director of development and operations for Jacksonville’s Sturgeon City, an environmental education center, said that the K-12 education subcommittee under the prevention goal has been working on a Marine Debris Education Resource Guide.

“The idea here is a full list of the available resources already out there for folks to help get educated about or educate others about marine debris,” she said. There will be a link to the activity, recommended grade levels, a brief summary, necessary materials and any associated links.

Details are being finalized and the guide should be ready in the next few months.

Farnell added that in 2020 they were able to reach more than 8,000 students and 1,355 educators and professionals that took part in 214 different educational programs. She said that the Turtle Trash Collectors Program funded by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program reached the majority of the students. The hope is that the resource guide will increase that reach even more.

Carteret County towns are also making a dent in the marine debris problem said Dee Smith, coordinator for Carteret Big Sweep, a year-round collaborative program between North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension and the Carteret County government.

Smith explained that a lot of work has been accomplished to prevent marine debris in county.

“We want to thank municipalities like the town of Beaufort and the town of Atlantic Beach for setting such great examples,” she said.

Beaufort, through multiple partnerships, has removed tons of large-scale marine debris, conducted a cleanup of abandoned and derelict vessels and officially endorsed the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan, she said.

Atlantic Beach partnered with the Crystal Coast Waterkeeper to install signs and beach cleanup baskets at each of the town’s 22 beach accesses. The signs encourage promotion through social media and features a QR code that allows visitors to directly download the NOAA marine debris tracker.

Smith also recognized this year’s Big Sweep volunteers, especially the students who committed 25 hours of their time to cleanup seven beach accesses throughout peak season. A total of 193 cleanups were recorded from July 4 through Sept. 7, 2020, with 327 volunteers working 465 hours. The work resulted in 2,129 pounds of debris removed from those beaches.

“We will continue this summer beginning Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day weekend, and expand our efforts to 10 beach locations,” she said.

Two working subcommittees have been tackling large-scale marine debris removal as part of the action plan.

“One of those committees focuses on addressing and implementing marine debris removals, and the other committee focuses their efforts on storm response and recovery,” Bodin, of the federation, said during the symposium.

“In 2020, a large-scale marine debris removal effort took place, and it is still continuing into this new year,” she said. The Division of Coastal Management, which received funding through Natural Resources Conservation Service to remove abandoned and derelict vessels and marine debris from Hurricane Florence, partnered with the federation on implementing these cleanups.

The federation hired five crews of made up of 26 area fishers, who worked from Carteret county to Brunswick County.

“Crews have removed over 690,000 pounds of storm debris from these areas last year and that has equaled out to over 2,100 average sized bathtubs, which is absolutely incredible,” she said.

The crews were trained to follow NOAA’s best management practices for debris removal in sensitive habitats. They remove debris by hand and used their personal vessels to transport the debris to nearby dumpsters that are then brought to an area landfill.

A large portion of the debris removed consisted of materials from damaged docks destroyed during the storm, such as pressure-treated wood, decking boards and large pilings. Consumer debris and construction material were also removed.

Bodin noted that there are multiple partners focusing on various actions and projects under the removal goal and the effort she highlighted is a small piece of the work being accomplished.

Solomon during the symposium told attendees that one objective under the goal to prevent and remove abandoned and derelict vessels is to work with partner organizations to create and populate a database of these vessels, which he said was accomplished in 2020.

The database was created for all abandoned vessels in the state in partnership with the federation, Division of Coastal Management, Wildlife Resources Commission and the Coast Guard Emergency Support Function, ESF 10, pollution assessment team, while the ESF 10 crew made Florence reassessments in the summer and fall of last year.

Currently, about 156 vessels are accounted for – and there’s probably more out there — most from hurricanes Florence and Dorian, a few from Hurricane Matthew and a few vessels have been there for the past 10 years or so, he said.

The commission also worked to develop a searchable geographic information system map of abandoned and derelict vessels. The interactive, online map will allow for post-storm field data collection, which is when a lot of data is collected on these vessels, Solomon said. The data will then auto-populate the public view map. The app, which should be ready by the next storm, will make collecting data much more efficient.

Another objective was to get authority from the North Carolina General Assembly to remove vessels, Solomon said. A 2019 law gave the Wildlife Resources Commission $1 million to inspect and remove abandoned and derelict vessels from Florence and other past storms. In 2020, another law was passed defining abandoned and derelict vessels and outlining a process for notifying the public and taking ownership of the vessel for removal.

The Division of Coastal Management, Wildlife Resources Commission and the federation hosted two workshops in 2020 to increase awareness of state funding for removal and start discussions with Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, counties to develop related rules.

Solomon said that another objective was to coordinate vessel removal with other organizations to increase efficient use of funding.

Gillikin, with the reserve, who was moderating the discussion during the symposium, said that the effort is unprecedented in North Carolina.

Putnam, with North Carolina Sea Grant, explained that for the research and assessment goal, a project is underway with a North Carolina State University team and partners to better understand how much and what kind of plastics are being carried by the Neuse River to the Pamlico Sound.

The two-year project is being funded by NOAA National Sea Grant and NOAA marine debris program. The project involves sampling for plastic pollution using different methods at 15 locations in rural and urban areas from the top of the basin near Raleigh to New Bern in the Neuse River Basin.

Sampling began the summer of 2020 and continues every other month. The samples are being analyzed at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Data will be collected and analyzed through June, she said.

“We want to better understand the relationships between microplastics and macroplastics, as well as understand what’s coming from urban versus rural areas,” she said. The plan is to refine sampling protocols and share which methods work best at certain types of locations with others with similar work.

“Finally, we’ll have some tangible data that we can use to support education and outreach targeted plastics pollution reduction,” she said.

Also over the past year, the research and assessment team made a list of current or recent marine debris research in the state accessible at the Marine Debris Symposiums’ webpage, under the research tab.

The document includes potential project funding sources and a list of research priorities.

This resource will give people a guide to what is going on in the state, and help make connections with and between researchers, she said.

Starting this month, dozens of storm-related abandoned and derelict vessels that are possible environmental and navigational hazards will be removed from coastal waters.

The nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation is working with state and local partners to remove more than 80 abandoned and derelict recreational and commercial boats between Manteo and Sunset Beach.

The Coast Guard and its contractors mitigated the pollution from most vessels soon after displacement but residual polluting and hazardous materials could still be onboard. Removing the vessels from the environment will both reduce marine debris and any remaining pollution impacts on coastal habitats such as oyster reef, submerged aquatic vegetation and marshes. Some of the vessels also pose a threat to navigation safety and public health, as well, according to the federation.

The state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and the federation assessed, documented and prioritized the abandoned vessels for removal. The commission tagged the vessels, the last step before removal can begin once contractors are secured.

The Wildlife Commission, Department of Environmental Quality agencies, Coast Guard and others will to continue to strengthen pre-storm planning and post-storm response to displaced vessels after these round of removals is complete, according to the federation.

“For the first time ever, North Carolina is mounting a comprehensive effort to rid our coast of these broken down boats that blight our coast. The federal, state and local partners and multiple funders, along with support from the General Assembly, have come together to make this happen. We are enthusiastic about the removal of so many vessels posing environmental, health and economic risks to our coast,” said Todd Miller, federation executive director, in a statement.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program is funding the removal of 25 vessels in Pamlico, Carteret, Craven, Onslow, Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick counties. The state Division of Coastal Management, in partnership with the federation and North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission, received the award.

In Currituck and Dare counties, 20 vessels will be removed with funds from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program grant, in partnership with Dare County, the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and the Wildlife Commission.

“We are a proud participant in this removal effort,” said Ben Solomon, environmental specialist of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, in a statement. “It speaks directly to our agency’s mission to conserve North Carolina’s wildlife resources and their habitats, and to provide opportunities for wildlife-associated recreation. Clearing the boat debris is imperative to protecting North Carolina’s diverse aquatic and coastal species and maintaining a clean environment for outdoor enthusiasts who recreate along our state’s coastline.”

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NOAA’s Marine Debris Program also awarded the federation funding to remove 35 vessels in Pamlico, Carteret, Craven, Onslow, Brunswick and New Hanover counties.

“The complexity of planning this large-scale effort required close coordination over a long period of time. And the result will quickly benefit our coastal resources and those who live, work and play among them,” said Paula Gillikin, central sites manager for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve System, under the Division of Coastal Management.

The effort to remove these vessels was given a boost in 2019 when the General Assembly appropriated $1 million to the Wildlife Commission for vessel removal. Gov. Roy Cooper approved final legislation in July 2020 updating language to authorize the commission to remove these storm-related vessels. The legislation helped expedite abandoned boat removal while also protecting boat owners’ private property rights.

The federation-led efforts to build on large-scale marine debris removal have resulted in more than 910 tons of pressure treated wood, floats and other trash and debris being removed from coastal waters since Hurricane Florence in September 2018.

To learn about the progress of this work and the federation’s efforts to create a coast that is free of marine debris, visit the organization’s webpage on marine debris. 

Jacksonville is to remove Monday a boat identified as an abandoned and derelict vessel, or ADV, the first under a new ordinance addressing the possible navigational and environmental hazards.

The large boat, which partially sank in the New River, was pulled ashore last spring and will be dismantled and disposed of starting at 8 a.m. in the parking lot of Capt. Bob Beck’s Marina Cafe, 110 S. Marine Blvd., officials announced Friday.

“We will be removing an ADV that was pulled out of city waters last May. It is being considered the city’s pilot vessel as we begin our removal efforts,” Madison McCann, water quality technician, told Coastal Review Online.

The removal is an effort of multiple city departments. The city’s fleet services division is to be assisted in demolishing the vessel by the Jacksonville Fire and Emergency Services. The streets division is to haul the debris away and the stormwater and water quality division is set to monitor the safety of the river, officials said.

“There are a total of 15 recognized ADVs in our waters but not all of them will be removed. We’re anticipating needing to remove around seven or eight vessels in the water right now. The other vessels we are working with the owners to bring into compliance with the City’s ADV ordinance,” McCann added.

During the initial assessment, 15 vessels were identified as possible ADVs, which pose navigational and environmental hazards and are a threat to private property, according to the city. Some of the boats are partially sunk and can spill oil or other chemicals into the New River. Others identified are grounded but there is a risk of the boats floating free and colliding with nearby boats or docks.

Abandoned and derelict vessels, or ADVs, litter more than just North Carolina’s coastal waters.

Thousands of ADVs can be found in the country’s waterways clogging navigational channels, harming the environment and diminishing commercial and recreational activities, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

To help address this countrywide problem, the NOAA Marine Debris Program is launching a new monthly webinar series, Salvaging Solutions to Abandoned and Derelict Vessels.

The webinar series kicks off at 3 p.m. Feb. 24 with Knowing the Ropes, an overview of the issue on a national, regional and local level.

Remaining webinars scheduled for 3 p.m. every fourth Wednesday of the month will feature experts from federal, state and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, universities and industry who will share perspectives and solutions on common ADV issues.

ADVs end up in coastal waterways because of a range of issues, from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, to owner neglect. Many communities face the challenge of assessing, removing and disposing of these vessels, which is complex and requires significant financial resources, officials said.

Organizers welcome anyone with an interest in ADVs, particularly local, state, and federal agencies, tribal entities, nongovernmental organizations, and other organizations engaged in the issue to attend these webinars.

Visit the website, subscribe to the newsletter, or email salvagingsolutions@noaa.gov for monthly topic announcements.

Another coastal town is taking steps to clean up abandoned and derelict vessels, or ADVs, in its waterways.

Last month, the Jacksonville City Council approved an ordinance to tackle the more than a dozen ADVs that are a threat to navigation, a possible source of pollution in the New River and a potential hazard during the next storm.

Madison McCann and Aaron Houran, city water quality technicians, presented the ordinance amending city code dealing with motor vehicles during the council’s Oct. 20 meeting. The two attended conferences and consulted with other towns with their own ADV ordinances, including New Bern, Manteo and Beaufort.

“We have about 15 vessels in our city limits right now that we believe meet the criteria as an abandoned or derelict vessel and these vessels present a multitude of issues for the city of Jacksonville,” McCann told the council. “One being that they’re a navigational hazard, especially in the narrow and shallow waterway of the New River that flows through downtown Jacksonville. They are an overall aesthetic problem for downtown Jacksonville, while also threatening the valuable residential and city-owned property located in the area.”

She said another area of concern is that the boats are often grounded on shoreline areas, or resting on the bottom, which pose a threat to the sensitive aquatic habitat in the New River. “And lastly, and most importantly, this is an issue we’ve seen persist and worsen with every storm event, adding additional vessels in our waterways, or damaging the vessels we currently have right now.”

McCann and Houran, in a follow-up email, told Coastal Review Online that ADVs have been a regular nuisance and a growing problem on the New River.

“From an environmental conservation approach, we were concerned with the marine debris and hazardous liquids often associated with ADVs. The New River has come a long way from the degraded habitat it once was in the 1990s and we wanted to see the environment continue to thrive and repair,” they wrote. “We wanted to address the issue of ADVs but found there was little we could do on a local level because of a lack of legislation. In 2019, we learned about House Bill 429 through an Abandoned and Derelict Vessel workshop hosted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation. We were excited to learn that we were being given the authority to write ordinances tailored to addressing vessels within our municipal limits.”

Now that the ordinance has been approved, the city is in the process of gathering information about the vessels and assessing what it will require to remove them.

“From there, it will be very similar to the approach taken for abandoned cars on the side of the road. The vessels will be tagged and we will make every effort to contact the owner. If the owner fails to respond in a certain amount of time, or if the owner responds and relinquishes the vessel, it will be removed,” they wrote.

They emphasized that the goal is to work with owners to bring the vessels into compliance with the law. “Our goal is not to remove any and all vessels, just simply push for all boats on the New River to be in safe working conditions and safe locations so that all may use the river.”

McCann explained during the meeting that this is not a new problem.

“The fact that abandoned and derelict vessels have plagued the North Carolina coast for some time has led to some local and state legislation regarding abandoned and derelict vessels,” she said.

The North Carolina General Assembly in 2019 passed House Bill 429 giving municipalities power to enact and enforce ordinances addressing ADVs in their waterways. McCann said the proposed amendment presented to the city council was drafted using those general statutes and local codes.

The amendment defines an abandoned vessel as a vessel that has been relinquished, left or given up by the lawful owner, without the intention to later resume any right or interest in the vessel. The vessel must meet eight conditions to be considered an ADV, including having improper, nonworking or no anchor light, unable to be used for navigation and in danger of breaking its mooring, sinking or taking on water.

Houran reviewed numerous vessels with the city council during the meeting, pointing out what makes the vessels qualify as an ADV, including one named 100 Proof.

“When I first started here (more than two and a half years ago), this vessel was located along Shoreline Drive tied to some pylons during Hurricane Florence,” Houran explained. “It actually broke its mooring and was later found drifting, dragging anchor back and forth in Wilson Bay.”

He said it was there for three to four months before being secured. The interior is exposed to the elements, there is no working anchor light, and the vessel has been neglected or partially dismantled.

Another vessel mentioned is a large shrimp trawler just north of Goat Island.

While trying to gather information about the trawler, Houran said, “The one thing I heard over and over again, is I don’t know how long it’s been there,” adding that it’s been there at least five years. “It’s almost been sort of a landmark on the water.”

McCann said that, as city employees, they take pride in promoting navigational safety on the New River, but the vessels moored in the navigable channel outside of Laguna Bay make it difficult for recreation and commercial use.

“Lastly, from a stormwater perspective, these vessels continued to threaten the city’s efforts to rehabilitate the New River and the sensitive marine habitat that we fought to bring back to the city of Jacksonville,” she said.

Regarding funding sources to support removing ADVs, McCann said the city is in contact with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

“They’re working to determine if our vessels are qualified for removal through their three funding sources,” she said, adding that two of the vessels are currently on the list for removal.

“Our hope is that working with these entities, they will not only offset some removal costs for the city, but also help us through the process,” she said, noting that the coastal federation had advised that it would be willing to help secure grant funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program.

Sarah Bodin, a coastal restoration specialist with the federation, called the city’s action “an important milestone” in addressing the problem of abandoned and derelict vessels and the threats they pose to water quality, the economy and local habitats.

City Manager Richard Woodruff explained to the council that just as with housing issues, there must be a legal process.

“We have worked to create a process very similar to what you do with any code issue on land. It is identified in the actual ordinance,” he said. “You can see the highlights and the notification must be given, action must go through a series of legal processes, relative to the number of days the party has to respond and correct any of the violations.”

Woodruff said one difficult aspect is that with some of the vessels, the control numbers and registration numbers have been removed, making it difficult to identify an owner.

“In that case, the ordinance does require us to board the vessel to placard the vessel notifying anyone that it must be corrected within a 10-day period. We will make every effort we can to research the records to determine who the owner is,” he said.

Woodruff said the city sees this effort as a continuation of the Clean and Green Jacksonville program, which has resulted in 134 vacant and dilapidated houses being removed.  “So this is just another step in cleaning up the appearance of the city.”

McCann and Houran wrote in the email that the city is just beginning to assess the removal considerations and costs for the appropriate vessels. “There are multiple agencies that we are hoping to utilize to help with removing several of these vessels.”

McCann and Houran described the New River as a rich and diverse estuary. The city wants to continue to promote boating, they said.

“Our goal with this new ordinance is to provide residents and tourists with the best possible experience for generations to come. With that being said, we want to work with the owners of these vessels, allowing them every opportunity to either claim, remove, or bring these vessels into compliance with the law,” they said in the email, adding that the ordinance was the result of the work of multiple city departments and representatives.

More than 70 tons of marine debris have been collected since summer from public shorelines and marshes along the central and southeast coast of the state as part of a large-scale marine debris and abandoned and derelict vessels removal project.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management and North Carolina Coastal Federation are working together on the project to remove large piles of pressure treated wood, plastic and polystyrene floats, and other litter from docks and waterfront structures damaged during Hurricane Florence.

The debris may contain harmful chemicals that can affect estuarine habitats and animals, including fish and shellfish. Large deposits of debris can pose hazards to navigation, fishers and marsh vegetation.

Nearly 74 tons of debris — the weight of about six school buses — have been collected since July from the division’s Rachel Carson, Permuda Island and Masonboro Island reserves and Hammocks Beach State Park, according to the federation. Most of the debris being collected along the coast are large pieces of debris like lumber and floats from broken up docks and piers with household debris and consumer trash only making up about 15 to 20% of the total.

So far, fisherman Joe Huie and his crew from Sneads Ferry have removed more than 35 tons of debris on Masonboro Island Reserve.

“I don’t think people could even perceive how much debris is really out there” said Huie.

“I believe that if we started debris removal around New River in Onslow County and moved our way down south into Brunswick County, by the time we finished in Brunswick and went back home over the course of a year or less, the places we had originally cleaned would be covered with debris again, and that’s without a hurricane like Florence contributing large amounts,” he explained.

The division’s Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve program is one of the many public lands that will benefit from the cleanup effort. The reserve is a network of 10 protected sites in the state established for long-term research, education and stewardship and protects more than 44,000 acres of estuarine land and water.

“This project, in concert with others being conducted simultaneously, will culminate in the largest organized public lands debris removal effort in North Carolina’s coastal history,” said Paula Gillikin, central sites manager of the Coastal Reserve Program.

The division and the federation received nearly $2 million earlier this year from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program to remove debris caused during Hurricane Florence and the project is just one effort to address marine debris on the state’s coast.

In July, Gov. Roy Cooper approved final legislation authorizing the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to remove storm-related vessels considered abandoned or derelict. This legislation dedicated $1 million in state appropriations for the commission to remove the vessels left by hurricanes Florence and Matthew.

The division, the commission and the federation have chosen which abandoned vessels will be removed and specialized contractors are expected to begin that work in November.

The federation is receiving $121,090 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program and $645,557 from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s emergency response marine debris program to remove dozens more vessels abandoned in the northeast coastal region.

The first large-scale cleanup project was launched in 2019 using state and NOAA funding. The project resulted in more than 315 tons of debris and several vessels removed from coastal waters.

While hired crews work to remove large scale debris, the federation and the Division of Coastal Management are encouraging the public to help keep the coast clean.

Visitors of coastal reserves and other public lands that collect trash when it’s safe to do so and disposing of it properly can share their finds by tagging “@debrisfreenc” on social media.

“I thank citizens in advance for helping collect marine debris at the Reserves and other public lands,” said Rebecca Ellin, Coastal Reserve program manager. “Through collaborative efforts such as these, we can reduce marine debris in coastal NC to protect habitats and enhance the safety and enjoyment of our coastal environment.”

Ted Wilgis, regional project lead for the federation, urged residents to help reduce property damage and the amount of debris entering coastal waters by following tips such as ensuring trash and recycling cans are empty and secure prior to storms. More ways to prepare for storms can be found at the NOAA program’s “Storm Preparedness and Marine Debris” tip sheet.

There are still hundreds of damaged waterfront structures along the coast that can contribute to the debris problem.

“We encourage owners of these damaged structures to try to secure them as best as possible until they can be removed or repaired,” he said.

A new law gives the state Wildlife Resources Commission authority and funding to remove abandoned and derelict vessels from public waters and state lands.

House bill 308, which Gov. Roy Cooper signed Wednesday, designates $1 million for the commission “to inspect, investigate, and remove abandoned and derelict vessels.” The measure also allows the commission to use other funding to address the problem. Environmental groups and the Division of Coastal Management had sought such a measure for several years.

“This funding and authority granted to the Wildlife Resource Commission will benefit coastal habitats that the Division of Coastal Management works to protect by providing the legal authority needed to remove abandoned vessels located in sensitive areas,” said Division Director Braxton Davis. “In many cases, removal of vessels will help these important habitats recover naturally.”

Under that process, the commission will first need to send a written notice to the last known owner, if one can be found, to learn the vessel’s status and post a notice on the vessel advising that it’s abandoned. If the commission doesn’t receive a response to either notice within 30 days, then it can remove and dispose of the vessel.

The commission can remove and dispose of abandoned and derelict vessels on private property after receiving written permission from the property owner and following other steps prescribed under the new law.

Learn More

• Displaced Derelict and Abandoned special report
• Study Calls for State Action on Derelict Boats

Two free workshops being offered in November are geared for local government representatives with existing abandoned vessel ordinances and coastal counties that have or are considering putting an ordinance in place per Session Law 2015-241.

A workshop will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Department of Environmental Quality’s Washington Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall. There will also be a workshop in Wilmington 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 25 at New Hanover County Center Arboretum Auditorium. Registration is required for both workshops and check-in begins at 9 a.m.

Cosponsored by North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, North Carolina Wildlife Resources and North Carolina Coastal Federation, workshops will address the following:

• The status of local and state-level efforts to address abandoned and derelict vessels.
• Limited-time opportunities for abandoned and derelict vessel removal, including those generated by Hurricane Florence.
• Community eligibility to participate in upcoming state vessel removal efforts.
• Successes and challenges associated with managing derelict and abandoned vessels.

Authorization from the North Carolina General Assembly is required for towns and cities to pass abandoned vessels laws. Towns and cities that have not been approved by the General Assembly to pass a local ordinance are welcome to attend, but it could be difficult for them to take advantage of the funds given the time it would take to get authorization from the General Assembly and the funding timeline.

 Members of the American Institute of Certified Planners will receive three continuing education credits.

Contact Paula Gillikin, central sites Manager for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, at paula.gillikin@ncdenr.gov or 252-838-0886 for information about the workshop.

Learn More

• Register for the workshop in Washington Nov. 15
• Register for the workshop in Wilmington Nov. 25

RALEIGH – A recent report from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission recommends putting a state agency in charge of removing derelict and abandoned vessels in navigable North Carolina waters, with dedicated funding to address the problem.

In North Carolina, the legislature has granted limited authority to local governments and state agencies to determine how and when a vessel can be removed. But local officials continue to struggle with abandoned and derelict vessels in waterways and sometimes washed up on public or private lands, threatening navigation and the environment.

The North Carolina General Assembly in 2018 directed the WRC to provide the report by April 30 because of the growing concerns over abandoned vessels and to consult the Division of Coastal Management, North Carolina Coastal Federation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris program, marine salvage industry experts, commercial and recreational boat owners and other stakeholders.

“The report detailed many different approaches used by other states in the management of abandoned and derelict vessels. It also described some of the challenges other states face in the management of abandoned and derelict vessels based on their management practices and laws in their state,” Ryan Kennemur, public affairs specialist with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, told Coastal Review Online.

The report notes that the resource used as a starting point was current up to 2015 and the researchers reached out to each coastal and Great Lakes state included in the report to update, clarify and collect more data.

In addition to naming a lead state agency to manage the problem, the report also recommends establishing a WRC-coordinated task force for abandoned and derelict vessels, or ADVs, as well as enacting a law defining and addressing ADVs statewide with disposal options and vessel owner notification protocols and rights. The report also calls for establishing education, outreach and prevention programs, including a vessel turn-in program fashioned after those used by other states.

The WRC manages more than 200 boating access areas on public waters across the state and is the chief enforcer of boating safety laws in North Carolina. In addition, the WRC works with local governments to determine no-wake zones.

“The WRC also manages the placement of waterway markers in conformance with the uniform rules to aids to navigation for boating access areas and approved no-wake zones across the state,” Kennemur said.

The University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment and the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory were contracted to research how other states with navigable waterways manage abandoned and derelict vessels for the report.

Researcher Susan Cohen with the Institute for the Environment said that the WRC developed the report’s overall approach to address and meet the North Carolina legislative direction.

She explained that the Institute of the Environment provided a summary of abandoned and derelict vessel programs in coastal and Great Lakes states produced by using sources of existing, current information, including the NOAA Marine Debris Program, with follow-up communications with each of the states to confirm that information. “Other groups, like NOAA for example, have done a great job capturing state-level information and we just built off what these other efforts had accomplished,” she said.

According to the report submitted to WRC, An Overview of State Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Programs, no single federal law is in place to comprehensively address ADVs, especially if navigation hazards or pollutants are not an issue.

Depending on circumstances such as pollution and navigation threats, there are laws and regulations that give authority to certain federal agencies, including NOAA, which is the lead agency on ADVs, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but for the most part, the responsibility ultimately falls on state and local authorities to manage the derelict and abandoned vessel.

“Our primary concentrations within the (report) summary were the status of legislation within each state, where decision-making authority to respond to ADVs lies, the resources expended by each state and the numbers of boats removed. This snapshot provides decision makers with a view of the broad range of strategies used by other states without being prescriptive to how North Carolina should respond,” Cohen added.

The report used NOAA’s “ADV InfoHub,” a website describing how ADVs are handled by each coastal state, as a starting point, compiling existing information on state programs and fact sheets for each state, current through 2015. The report acknowledged that since then, several states have enacted legislation and provided funding to support ADV programs.

The researchers sent a questionnaire by email March 8 with a follow-up March 15 to more than two dozen coastal and Great Lakes states, except North Carolina, to fill in gaps, update and gather information related to legislation, funding and measurable results from ADV programs. Of the 28 states that were contacted, 14 responded.

Results of the questionnaire show that other states typically do not keep detailed records on removed ADVs or funding. Many of those responding to the questionnaire were unable to give numbers on funding or removal efforts.

States that reported the greatest numbers of ADVs between 2013 and 2016 were Ohio, which has no allocated funding,  at 1,400; Texas at 1,080; Florida at 824; California at 657; and Washington, which has a $2.5 million program that has removed more than 700 vessels since 2002, at 366.

Kennemur with WRC said North Carolina does not track the number of ADVs found each year.

The results point to a handful of issues that interfere with managing ADVs in waterways, including the challenge of finding vessel owners, the lack of recurring state funding in 20 of the 30 coastal and Great Lakes states and a lack of understanding as to what authorities are responsible for certain actions and preventive measures.

The report notes that of the 30 coastal and Great Lakes states, 29 had some type of legislation addressing ADVs, with 16 of those states having enacted legislation during the last 10 years. New York is the only state that hadn’t enacted ADV laws.

Also, of those 30 states, 21 have laws that include civil penalties for abandoning or failing to remove a vessel after notice. Twelve states impose criminal penalties for abandoning or failing to remove a vessel after being notified.

Six states have adopted a vessel turn-in program in an effort to prevent vessels that are older or in poor condition from entering the water and becoming an ADV. Although details vary by state, the program allows owners or marinas to turn over vessels to a state or agency for proper disposal at no cost.

Learn More

• Displaced Derelict and Abandoned, a three-part series

RALEIGH – New legislation would the extend Manteo’s authority over navigable waters within the Dare County town’s corporate limits, adding it to a growing list of local governments seeking help in managing derelict moorings and other issues exacerbated by recent storms.

The Manteo bill, introduced early last week by Sen. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, would extend the town’s jurisdiction over the waters of Shallowbag Bay from the northern tip of Ballast Point to the southern tip of Baum Point, including Doughs Creek and Scarboro Creek.

Among other powers, the bill gives the town authority to place and maintain channel markers and other navigational aids and to regulate anchoring and mooring of vessels within its waters.

Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, introduced similar legislation earlier in the session that would give local control to Beaufort for the navigable waters around the unincorporated region of the Rachel Carson Reserve and extend to other Carteret County  towns of Atlantic Beach, Bogue, Cape Carteret, Cedar Point, Emerald Isle, Indian Beach, Morehead City, Newport, Peletier and Pine Knoll Shores the right to control anchoring of boats and operations of boats and vessels in their respective navigable waters.

The deadline for filing all local legislation for this year’s session is March 28.

Other recently filed legislation includes $2 million in funding for the Maritime Heritage Foundation of Beaufort to begin advanced planning on construction of a new North Carolina Maritime Museum. The money is to be used for a master plan for the 31-acre site on Gallants Channel, including a wetlands and environmental survey as well as building and infrastructure plans.

Although a standalone bill for now, the measure that was also introduced by McElraft is likely headed for inclusion in this year’s House budget proposal. McElraft is co-chair of the subcommittee that writes the natural and cultural resources section of the budget.

OCRACOKE – Storm-driven tide crashing on to your waterfront yard is bad enough, but Hyde County Manager Bill Rich saw visions of doom when a 45-foot boat in Silver Lake headed straight toward his house.

“It looked like the Titanic was coming through my bedroom,” Rich recounted in an interview last week.

As fortune had it, Rich’s home was spared impact from one of numerous close encounters with unmoored orphaned vessels in the harbor, an increasing problem in the small resort community on the southern tip of the Outer Banks.

On Monday evening, the Hyde County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance that prohibits abandonment of vessels in Silver Lake, in what Rich characterized as an important first step in addressing what has become a dangerous and ugly blight in the otherwise picturesque harbor.

“Every time there’s a wind of 30 mph or higher, something breaks loose, “ he said. “Usually it’s a derelict boat that no one’s been on for months.”

Under a 2015 state law, the county was given the authority to pass an ordinance that would consider a vessel to be abandoned if it was anchored for more than 30 days without permission within a six-month period. The definition also includes sunken vessels or those in danger of sinking, as well as boats that create a hazard to navigation or an immediate danger to other vessels.

Three other coastal counties – Dare, New Hanover and Brunswick – have also adopted similar ordinances. But abandoned vessels have become a costly and complex issue that nearly every waterfront community in North Carolina – and nationwide – is grappling to address.

In a report published in March 2017 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a survey of 28 coastal states found that 18 of those states reported more than 5,600 abandoned or derelict vessels between 2013 and 2016. Of those, only 3,000 had been removed.

North Carolina does not monitor the number of abandoned vessels in its waterways.

For Hyde County, Silver Lake Harbor is a popular destination for recreational sailors and boaters, especially in the summer. But in the last 15 years or so, Rich said, more people have been using their vessels – usually sailboats – to live on.  At the end of the season, or when the weather is dangerous, some people have moved away, leaving behind their empty boat anchored in the harbor.

The ordinance is not meant to keep people from living on their vessels, the county manager said. It is meant to discourage irresponsible ownership.

“What we’re not going to have is people using their boats as a motel and leaving them all winter long,” he said.

In just the last two months, six abandoned vessels broke free of their moorings, he said. One unfettered sailboat ended its journey at the pier in front of Ride the Wind Surf Shop, another landed by the Berkeley dock. Both of those vessels sunk. Another boat broke loose at the National Park Service docks.  After ensuring that they were unclaimed, the county retrieved each vessel, crushed them and hauled them away, at a cost to the county of $1,500 to $2,000 each.

In addition, Rich said, a fourth vessel was towed away from its resting spot at a private dock it damaged.  Two derelict vessels remain – one aground on private property, the other snagged on a mooring ball.

Eventually, Hyde plans to draft another ordinance more tailored to its needs and circumstances, and ask the legislature to approve it, Rich said.

Steve Wilson, chairman of the Ocracoke Planning Advisory Board and an island native, said that part of the problem with abandoned vessels is that their registrations are often outdated, making it difficult to track down the responsible party. Under the ordinance, the county follows state law that requires the abandoned vessel’s owner to be notified, when possible. Typically, an owner is determined through documentation and the identification number on the vessel’s hull. Under state law, the last registered owner is considered the owner, although it is rebuttable. Regardless of who removes and disposes of the abandoned vessel, or contracts for it, the person who removes the boat is responsible for collecting the associated fees.

The owner is responsible for all costs of removal, towing, storage, disposal and/or site restoration. And if the owner can’t be determined, the taxpayer ultimately foots the bill.

Some people who live on their boats don’t leave the harbor, Wilson said, so they don’t bother to renew their registrations. It’s also not uncommon for boats to be informally sold and resold without re-registering them.

“So you end up with a boat that has a confused ownership,” Wilson said. “It has no bill of sale, no current title, no current registration.”

Over the years, he said, there have been increasing numbers of  “boats that come here and never leave.” The result, he added, is the harbor at times has been cluttered with vagrant vessels without anchor lights, hindering the access for and safety of transient vessels that want to tie up for the night.

If a boat is docked or anchored and had not been underway, it is unlikely to be checked by law officers with the Coast Guard or the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which both have certain enforcement power over vessels, he said. And since no insurance is required for boats, documentation is easier to ignore.

Law enforcement personnel with the Wildlife Resources Commission did not respond to several requests seeking further information.

With the new ordinance, any county law enforcement officer or representative of any government agency with jurisdiction has enforcement power, including authorization to board a vessel.

“The bottom line is a lack of responsibility has created a problem for the village, for the transient boaters, for the property owners around the harbor,” Wilson said.

Silver Lake, the more evocative name for the Ocracoke harbor, is considered one of Ocracoke’s most vital resources, he added.

“These abandoned boats have become a detriment to our tourism economy as well as becoming a safety hazard,” Wilson said. “Ocracoke is lenient and tolerant, and we’re not looking to hurt people. We’re just looking for people to take their stuff when they leave.”

Learn More

• Read the ordinance

N.C. COAST – Abandoned boats and finding ways to deal with them are not new issues for eastern North Carolina. Locating owners or funding the removal of an abandoned boat are just some of the hurdles involved in cleaning up a vessel left to rot where it sits.

“We don’t really have adequate laws (in North Carolina) that address this and there’s no teeth in much of anything to deal with (abandoned boats),” said Judy Hills, executive director of the Eastern Carolina Council of Governments.

And except for a few limited instances, the federal government doesn’t offer much assistance.

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office published in March found that federal agencies face some of the same challenges as local and state governments when it comes to handling abandoned and derelict vessels, also referred to ADVs: there’s simply not enough money and not enough regulations for cleaning up such vessels.

There are some cases in which federal agencies like the Coast Guard, the Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency or others will get involved with an abandoned or derelict vessel. But those cases are limited to vessels in federally maintained waterways, containing potential pollutants or that were grounded or considered debris due to a major storm event.

According to the study, those agencies felt they had little or no responsibility to be involved in vessel cleanup outside the parameters laid out in federal statute.

“Agencies reported they generally did not have funding to support actions beyond responding to ADVs posing navigation hazards in federally-maintained waterways and pollution and public health threats, nor were they required to do so by federal law or agency policy,” the report states.

Many states are taking it upon themselves to clean up abandoned boats. The study surveyed 28 coastal states, and 18 of those reported identifying more than 5,600 abandoned or derelict vessels between 2013 and 2016 – 88 percent being recreational vessels under 40 feet in length. Of the 5,600 abandoned vessels identified, just more than 3,000 were removed.

While North Carolina responded to the survey, it was not one of the 18 states to identify or remove abandoned vessels. It reported that it did not know the number of ADVs during the three-year time period.

Hills, a recreational boater who has championed an abandoned boat monitoring program for the state in years past, called the issue complex.

Some of the complexities include locating owners when all identifiers have been removed from the vessel, private property rights, insurance and more – let alone keeping track of abandoned boats, she said.

“Other states have a more active monitoring program, like Florida, where it’s kind of like an abandoned car, they’ll go put a sticker on (the abandoned boat),” she said. “They’ll mark it and put it on a GIS mapping system and go back and check on them periodically and send notices to people about them. And we just don’t have anything like that here in North Carolina.”

In North Carolina, the Wildlife Resources Commission handles the titling and registering of boats, as well as the state’s Boating and Water Safety provisions for abandoned vessels, according to WRC Land and Water Access Section Chief Brian McRae.

He explained that though state laws don’t require the removal of an abandoned or derelict boat, there is procedure for a person who finds such a boat to apply for ownership of the vessel.

“The Wildlife Resources Commission’s procedures … allow a person who finds an abandoned vessel to become the registered and titled owner, provided the previous owner(s) cannot be located and have not reported the vessel missing or stolen,” McRae said in an email.

“This issue becomes a little more complicated if the abandoned vessel is hindering the launching or retrieving of vessels at a WRC Boat Access Area or posing a danger at a WRC Boat Access Area. In these circumstances, we will conduct a title search but eventually take on the salvage and remove costs to get it taken care of.”

McRae said while there are criminal charges that can be filed for abandoning a vessel, the state has no mechanism to force an individual to remove a vessel.

“The only reference to removal requirements for abandoned vessels in North Carolina in under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-355(b)(5). It states that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (now known as the Department of Environmental Quality) is required to cooperate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in removing ‘any wrecked, sunken or abandoned vessel or unauthorized obstructions and encroachments in public harbors, channels, waterways and tidewaters of the state,’” he said.

Hills said she tried in the past to get a monitoring program for the state with the commission but was unsuccessful.

“We showed (the commission) what Florida is doing as far as monitoring and tagging (abandoned boats). We made a pitch and basically the bottom line (from the commission) is, ‘We don’t have the resources,’” Hills said.

“I’m not saying there wasn’t an interest there – they understand there is a problem,” she continued. “But my impression was: ‘Unless somebody dictates that to (the commission), we really don’t want to have any responsibility.’ And you can’t blame them. They don’t have unlimited resources and it’s a tremendously complex problem.”

That can leave local governments in the lurch when it comes to cleaning up scenic waterfronts and harbors.

“(Local governments) could expend the funds (for removal) if they so desired, but if you do it for one, you have to do it for everybody,” Hills said. “So it’s a really hard decision, and there really isn’t any money for it.”

Some local governments have taken matters into their own hands. Kyle Garner, the planning and inspections director for Beaufort, said the town has an ordinance outlining the procedure to follow should a boat need to be removed from Taylor’s Creek.

The procedure includes everything from attempting to locate the boat’s owner, to posting public notice that the boat will be removed, to working with a local marine towing company for the removal.

“We want to make sure we do things the right way and the ultimate goal is abatement or getting the areas cleaned up and sometimes it takes time,” Garner said. “But it’s a worthy endeavor and when it’s done it’s hopefully finished and you’ve met your goal.”

Garner said town officials recently met with representatives of the Corps of Engineers to discuss possible efforts on Beaufort’s part to remove sunken boats in Town Creek.

Though Town Creek is a federal harbor of refuge, it is not a federally maintained waterway, so the Corps is not required or funded to remove vessels there.

Dealing with and cleaning up abandoned and derelict vessels is an ongoing challenge for many coastal areas, Garner said.

“It’s going to be a challenge not only for us, but for coastal areas throughout the country. And we’re not the only community that has some of these vessels in just deplorable shape,” Garner said. “It’s a shame they’ve gotten there, but (cleaning them up is) something we have to do to help protect the environment of our areas and our waterways here – and not only what I would consider the fragile environment but also the visual environment, the aesthetic environment.”

Learn More

• Read the Report

BOLIVIA – Brunswick County’s board of commissioners have approved an ordinance aimed at keeping public waters clear of abandoned and derelict boats, the Wilmington StarNews reported.

The ordinance approved Monday following a public hearing during the board’s regular meeting in Bolivia would give the county sheriff’s office enforcement power and sets penalties for violations. The ordinance also defines disposal of abandoned boats.

Abandoned boats that do not pose a threat to navigation would not likely be removed, officials said. Rather, the rule is to prevent more boats from being abandoned in local waters.

The ordinance makes it illegal to anchor, dock, moor or store a vessel in county waters for more than 10 days in a 30-day period, except at a private dock or marina.

The ordinance does not apply to any shipwreck, cargoes, tackle or other underwater archaeological remains that have been in place and unclaimed for more than 10 years, the removal of which would require approval of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

The board considered a proposed ordinance in March 2016 but tabled action to allow more time to study the issue.

Learn More

• Read the StarNews report
• Read the ordinance

Currituck County now has a legal solution to the problem of abandoned vessels in the county’s navigable waterways, the Outer Banks Voice reported.

Commissioners recently approved an ordinance that allows the county to deal with abandoned watercraft in the same way it handles abandoned or junked vehicles.

The county’s code enforcement department will attempt to track down the owner of a boat that has been abandoned or is a hazard to other vessels and ask the owner to remove it. If the owner doesn’t comply, the county has the right to remove and dispose of the abandoned vessel at the owner’s expense.

Under the ordinance, abandoned vessels are those that have been moored for 30 days or more without the permission of a marina owner, dock owner, slip owner or property owner, county attorney Ike McRee told the board during its July 18 meeting.

The ordinance also covers vessels that are in danger of sinking, have sunk or are a hazard to navigation and an immediate danger to other vessels, McRee added. The new law won’t apply to shipwrecks or cargo that have been underwater for more than 10 years.

Reporting

• To report an abandoned boat, call code enforcement at 252-232-6027, or file an online complaint.

Commissioners said they needed more time to look at the proposed ordinance that would make abandoning a boat in county waters illegal, WWAY-TV of Wilmington reported.

The county sheriff’s office proposed the plan in a move to avoid or recoup expenses related to removing abandoned vessels. The proposed ordinance would allow the county to auction abandoned boats or dispose of them in the landfill and take legal action against owners for the removal costs.

Learn More

• WWAY-TV’s report

NEW BERN — Abandoned and derelict boats dot waterways and marshes all along the N.C. coast, in some cases creating hazards to navigation and other safety or environmental problems, but aside from a handful of local regulations in various communities little has been done to address the problem.

Judy Hills, director of the Eastern Carolina Council of Governments, a lifelong boating enthusiast and a former longtime member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, has worked nearly 10 years to focus attention on ways to better manage issues with abandoned and derelict vessels and other large debris in public waters.  The council, or ECC, is gathering input from the public through an online survey. The survey results are to be used to assess the extent of the problem and shared with various agencies at a meeting to be held later this year in collaboration with N.C. Sea Grant, a research, education and outreach organization based at N.C. State University. The survey will be open until Sept. 4.

Hills would like to see comprehensive, statewide legislation to address the issue, cooperation among various agencies, enforcement action and a renewable, sustainable funding source to remove abandoned boats and other marine debris. She said action is needed because abandoned vessels can have onboard fuel and other hazardous materials. Also, larger boats can become illegal dump sites or, in some cases, used for meth labs or other illegal purposes. Some obstruct public or private waterways, wharves, piers and ramps. Meanwhile, Hills said, the N.C. General Assembly has responded in the past only with a few “spotty” local bills that treat the problem as similar to that of abandoned vehicles.

“The issue is much more complex than that of an abandoned car,” Hills said.

The ECC is a regional planning agency serving nine counties, four of which are coastal counties: Carteret, Craven, Onslow and Pamlico. The council received federal money through a water quality grant in 2006 to study the scope of the problem of abandoned and derelict vessels in the state in partnership with three other councils of government and the Coast Guard Auxiliary.  That study was completed in 2007 and presented to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management’s Coastal Resources Advisory Council and other groups since then, but no progress has been made on this issue and no state agency appears willing to take the lead, Hills said.

“No one has taken ownership of the issue,” she said. “The problem is, every state agency feels like they’re overworked.”

Various agencies have jurisdiction and enforcement powers. The Army Corps of Engineers investigates vessels that have sunk or that affect a navigable channel. The Coast Guard investigates possible contamination and may remove vessels or mark them as hazards to navigation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency can reimburse applicants for cost of vessel removal and disposal after storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may offer grants to remove marine debris. A state Wildlife Resources officer may be able to cite an owner for littering, but often owners cannot be identified or located.

In 2007, the auxiliary documented 44 abandoned and derelict vessels and 11 cases of major debris in coastal waters.

Hills said she thinks there were many more than were documented and that those numbers have since increased. Discussions resumed in 2014 when Oriental town commission Larry Summers, an avid kayaker, raised the issue.

“There’s a lot of stuff in the waterways and it’s an extremely complicated process to get rid of them,” Summers said. “There is no reasonable procedure. It might take a year or two to remove something, if then. You can’t get them out of there and they sit there forever.”

When there are circumstances in which derelict boats may be legally removed, the costs can be excessive, Summers said.

Storms, particularly hurricanes may be to blame for many vessel groundings, abandonments and related debris. Economic stress and other changes, such as the decline of commercial fishing industries in villages and small towns and financial problems for individual owners are also to blame, Hills said. Other factors include recreational boat owners who reside elsewhere and are unavailable for maintenance or monitoring, accidental groundings, the high costs of proper vessel disposal and vessels awaiting scrapping or surplus.

Summers said many of the examples he’s seen are recreational boats, but he’s aware of at least one big commercial fishing boat sunk near the town and several others around Pamlico County he believes were intentionally sunk. There have been cases of boats striking the sunken vessels. One example, he said, is an old sailboat submerged within about 10 feet of the channel in the Intracoastal Waterway near Hoboken. Other boats have washed up onshore. In many cases, it’s impossible to determine the owner because registration numbers have been intentionally removed or obliterated.

In addition to the hazards, the problem is an eyesore in coastal communities where visitors in search of scenic views are a big part of the local economy.

“It doesn’t help you when you’re trying to do tourism,” Summers said.

Hills provided an update on the issue to the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission earlier this year. In her presentation, she focused on the inconsistency of regulations that apply to derelict and abandoned vessels. A big part of the problem is the variations in defining what qualifies as an abandoned vessel.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s definition is a vessel that has been relinquished, left or given up by the lawful owner without the intention to later resume any right or interest in the vessel. The term does not include a vessel that is left by an owner or agent of the owner with any person or business for the purpose of storage, maintenance or repair and that is not subsequently reclaimed.

The Coast Guard’s definition of abandoned vessel is any craft designed for navigation that has been moored, stranded, wrecked, sunk or left unattended for longer than 45 days. A vessel is not abandoned if it is on private property with permission of the owner, according to the Coast Guard.

A law enacted in May 2011 gave Wrightsville Beach authority to remove and dispose of abandoned vessels within the town’s zoning jurisdiction. The law applies only to Wrightsville Beach and includes yet another definition of abandoned vessels as those “moored, anchored or otherwise located for more than 30 consecutive days in any 180-day consecutive period in any waters or marshes waterward of the pierhead line” and “If designed to float, is in danger of sinking, has sunk, is resting on the bottom or is located such that it is a hazard to navigation or is in immediate danger to other vessels.”

Another law enacted in June 2013 giving only Brunswick and Dare counties the right to develop an ordinance prohibiting the “abandonment of vessels in navigable waters” is the General Assembly’s most recent action on abandoned vessels. Hills and Summers agreed those local laws have failed to address the problem.

“We really felt like there’d been nothing done – no progress. With help from Sea Grant, we’re going to make another run at it,” Hills said.