Abandoned boats, whether aground in a cove, tied up to an urban bulkhead, or sunk in their slips, are disheartening to see. Besides being eyesores, they represent a dream left to die.
But there is also a real threat to the threat to the waterways these abandoned vessels inhabit. They can be navigational hazards, especially if they’re partially submerged. They can cause pollution as harmful materials on board end up in the water.
There have been multiple grassroots efforts on the Chesapeake Bay to clean up these Abandoned and Derelict Vessels (ADVs). On the Lynnhaven River, clean water advocates have been working to remove 100 ADVs in the span of a year. On the Anacostia, federal funding made it possible to remove 33 boats from marinas and waterways. Now the BoatUS Foundation is tackling the problem on a national level, thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association Marine Debris Program.
BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has been using a $10 million grant from 2023 to remove ADVs and to develop a national database tracking them throughout the United States and U.S. Territories. Using the MyCoast platform, the BoatUS Foundation created the database so that organizations and the public in general can help identify problem areas.
BoatUS Foundation says that by tracking the problem on a national scale, they hope to better understand the issue. They hope that it will create awareness to encourage responsible boating practices, prioritize the ADVs that pose the biggest threat to navigation, safety and pollution hazards, and direct removal efforts.
Director of Outreach Alanna Keating says, “When talking about ADVs, the first question is always, how big is the problem? Currently, no one knows that answer. While some states, localities, and organizations track ADVs, the national scope and depth of the issue is unknown.”
Keating explains that the fiberglass boat construction boom of the 1960s and 1970s is expected to cause an increase in end-of-life boats. The database will help identify the challenges coming, and make plans to prevent and remove ADVs as they come along.
With relatively few reports in the Chesapeake Bay region to the database so far, Keating says BoatUS Foundation and its partners will be working this off-season and the next boating season to get the word out. You can report an abandoned vessel here.
