Sunken boats litter SC waters. Here’s why it takes so long to remove them

After a life on the water, the unfortunate end for many boats is a watery grave.

While long-lost boats can sometimes function as archaeological sites or even habitats for wildlife, vessels that sink in South Carolina waters can pose serious risks to the environment and other boaters.

A sunken boats’ fuel can leak and any chemicals stored on board can contaminate the waterway. And even if chemical pollution isn’t a concern, the boat’s materials like fiberglass will eventually start to break down in the water.

Sunken boats also make navigation dangerous for other vessels. Other boats may not see a sunken vessel and could collide with the abandoned ship.

Despite the dangers, every year sunken boats are abandoned along the coast, in marshes and throughout rivers, left for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to remove. Here’s what state law says about the derelict vessels.

What the law says

Not only is leaving a sunken vessel underwater dangerous, it’s illegal in South Carolina. Any boat that’s sunken, sinking, wrecked or stranded and has been left unattended for more than 45 days is considered abandoned, which is a misdemeanor under South Carolina law.

If a person is found guilty of abandoning a boat in South Carolina, the law says they could be fined between $1,000 and $5,000, face up to 30 days imprisonment or both. Additionally, within 14 days of conviction, the boat must be removed.

If your boat sinks

If your boat sinks, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 1st Sgt. Jason Dozier says it’s best to take action as soon as possible.

For insured vessels, he recommends notifying your insurance company and checking your coverage. You can work with them to contact a marine salvage company to retrieve the boat.

You can still reach out to a private marine salvage company without insurance, you just won’t have the same financial coverage.

If you don’t immediately contact a salvage company, Dozier says owners of sunken boats should notify DNR and the Coast Guard of the location of the underwater vessel and whether there’s fuel onboard.

Abandoned ships

If a boat’s owner doesn’t take action to clear the sunken vessel, state law says the government can remove an abandoned boat at the expense of its owner. But the process can be lengthy and complicated.

When a sunken boat is reported to DNR, the department marks the vessel to warn against trespassing and tries to reach the registered owner. If there’s no response for 45 days, the boat is considered abandoned.

“The problem we have from there is once it’s considered abandoned, there’s really no easy way from there, because there’s no funding in place,” Dozier said. “As DNR, we’re not really set up to remove vessels from the water. It’s very labor intensive. There’s lots of things that can go wrong.”

While each county is different, Dozier says In general, the process works like this. The department might work with nonprofit organization Wounded Nature-Working Veterans or a local business pro bono to assess the vessel, float the boat to the surface, break the remnants down and send them to a landfill.

“There’s just, there’s no easy cookie-cutter answer because with abandoned boats, every boat is so different,” Dozier said. “It’s a very unique problem that we have that is very, very, very unique, that we deal with. It’s hard to give an exact answer, but each county is different.”

Who foots the bill?

With divers, marine salvage equipment, trucks and more, a lot goes into the recovery and disposal. According to Dozier, expenses like court fees can bring the total amount fined closer to $10,000, which DNR will try to leverage to remove the vessel.

But identifying the responsible party can also be difficult.

Under state law, the boat’s registered owner is responsible for the vessel. But vehicles sometimes change hands, maybe multiple times, through unofficial sales where the parties involved didn’t update the registration.

“The only person technically that I can charge by law is the registered owner,” Dozier said. “So it gets to be kind of a chess game of, are you charging the person who is really committing the crime?”

In other cases, Dozier said, it can be difficult to track down owners who abandon sunken boats because they don’t have the financial means to recover them. In many of these cases, Dozier said, the owners move around often and are difficult to locate.

“Most of our abandoned boats that we deal with are what we call the ‘live aboards,’ what we call like a transient type that go from place to place, that live on the boats for long, extended periods of time,” said Dozier. “So normally, we don’t get calls.”

Protecting waterways

For boats in bad shape and owners who can’t keep up with costs, Dozier encourages folks to reach out before vessels sink.

“We as DNR, we would rather you contact us and work out something to where you could sign the boat over to us and get rid of it while it’s still floating, versus just letting it sit somewhere and sink and become a bigger problem,” Dozier said.

In a now closed pilot program funded by NOAA, the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services Bureau of Coastal Management dismantled 13 derelict vessels, disposing of 85 gallons of fuel and 14 tons of boat material.

Although the the Vessel Turn-in Program is no longer accepting applications, a department spokesperson told The Sun News that DES hopes to look for other long-term funding opportunities for future turn-in programs.