Watercraft law to take effect
Abandoned boats can bring fines, jail
Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier
This abandoned boat, on the shore of a creek that connects to the Folly River, could be subject to a state law taking effect Tuesday that will make it a crime to abandon watercraft on public land or water.
Who to talk to
Any owner or other person with information on an abandoned watercraft should contact the DNR Law Enforcement Investigations Section at 953-9378 or 1-800-922-5431 or visit dnr.sc.gov.
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Fighting eyesores, hazards; Municipalities working to get floating or sunken hulks out of their waters, published 11/30/08
If yours is one of the many derelict boats littering coastal waterways, you might want to haul it in before it's too late. A state law takes effect Tuesday that makes it a crime to abandon a watercraft or an outboard motor on public land or water.
Violators convicted of the misdemeanor could face fines up to $5,000 and up to 30 days in jail.
An abandoned watercraft is defined as any craft that has been moored, stranded, wrecked, sinking, or sunk, and has been left unattended for more than 45 days.
The state Department of Natural Resources said that doesn't apply to a boat left because of an emergency, although the owner or operator is expected to recover the craft when the emergency has passed.
"This is a primary problem along the coast, but it's a problem statewide too," DNR Law Enforcement Colonel Alvin Taylor said at the DNR board meeting Thursday.
Michael McShane, chairman of the board, said he thinks the state has so many abandoned watercraft because so many vessels entered the public domain during the boat-buying boom of the last 10 years.
"With the economy how it is, people are going to be forced into abandonment," he said. "So it's a problem moreso now than it's ever been."
The issue is magnified along the coast, Taylor said, so starting Tuesday, DNR officers will begin surveying coastal waters first, then move inland. After officers gather all the available information on the abandoned vessels, an investigative group will take over to attempt to track down the owner.
"Once we've identified an abandoned vessel, we're going to post it for 45 days," Taylor said. "After that, we're going to move forward in the legal system for those boats that we have owners for."
In addition to a fine and/or jail time, the new law states that the watercraft must be removed at the risk and expense of the owner within 14 days of conviction.
"I think it ought to be clear that if you sell your boat, this is an incentive to make sure all the paperwork is transferred because we're going to go after the owner on the registration," McShane said. "We're going after the last known owner."
The law does not give DNR the authority to remove boats for which no owner has been identified. In those cases, Taylor said, local governments will have to step in.
Last week the city of Folly Beach was awarded a $45,897 grant from the state Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management to be used for removing about six abandoned boats from the water and marshes surrounding it.
Earlier this month, Mayor Carl Beckmann Jr. said he was hoping to "try to ding the (owners) for part of the bill" for boat removal.
Now, under the new law, the city can pass the buck for removal to the owner, freeing up all the grant money to remove the boats without identified owners.
"This is going to take a while," Taylor said. "And it's going to be very complex to determine ownership on a lot of these vessels."
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Comments
This article has 6 comment(s)
Posted by coolfreaknbeans on December 13, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have always agreed with your posts concerning this issue. They make it nearly impossible for the average family to afford to dock their boat. Look at how ugly it is when you cross the bridge from downtown to W.Ashley. The expensive boat slips take up 1/2 of the freakn water.(they're usually empty too)
Posted by JC on December 13, 2008 at 10:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
45 days is too long!! They only let cars stay on the street but 7 days (at least in Charleston). I agree that the sight along the Ashley River Bridges is horrible. Boat owners are now moving further down the Ashley and littering the waterway in front of Brittlebank Park. The marinas and the outrageous fees are certainly part of the problem. Bu seriously, if you can afford some of those boats out there, you can definitely pay to dock them. Why pay when you can do it for free.
Posted by blackberry_fan on December 13, 2008 at 10:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
JimIslander that's crap. If you cannot afford a place to dock or store your boat don't buy the boat. Its that simple. If I had property and people were willing to pay me for it i would do it too. Because you can't afford a boat slip is not a reason to abandon a boat in public water. Again, thats crap!!!
Posted by Neponset on December 13, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Black
The problem is that these folks could afford the slip when they bought the boat, but things changed and affordable slips disappeared, just like affordable housing. I was in the Charleston marina and it was ok, but when joe leased it out to the Beach Co, things changed and got very expensive. I was lucky to find a buyer and get out, but apparently a lot of folks were not so lucky.
Posted by rebcsc on December 13, 2008 at 5:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To get this out of the way first, I resent "jimislander"'s implication that the Citadel is a common denominator in this problem. There are tens of thousands of Citadel graduates living and I suspect that many of them , like me, would agree with him otherwise.
Like "Neponset" I once kept a boat a City Marina and enjoyed being a part of that community. When I had a boat there, it truly was a community.
Ever since Joe Riley became mayor it seems that Charleston has been nothing more that a lucrative cash cow for his real estate cronies with contorted real estate deals like the SC Aquarium land swap, the New Year's Eve midnight Daniels Island switcharoo and now his Charleston Neck contortion ... all designed to make millions for a few realtors or real estate developers while hoping that the masses will be satisfied with a few crumbs like a park and possibly getting stuck with higher taxes eventually or a pink elephant like the Aquarium that can't pay for itself because of poor planning or gross mismanagement.
I didn't know that Riley had also allowed City Marina to be stolen from the public also. I've been out of boating for a long time. It saddens me ... but I'm not surprised.
Instead of trying to help boat owners in financial trouble, providing a reasonably priced place for people to dock, drydock or store their boats and assuring public access to such facilities, it seems that Riley has been more interested in assisting a few to get richer.
The fact that people are having to abandon a possibly valuable asset like a boat speaks for itself ... and now financial misfortune is criminalized with jail time and further financial burden.
So ... when is South Carolina going to open a debtor's prison?
Posted by LocalBoater on December 16, 2008 at 8:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Im a bit worried about this since i own an anchored boat. I used to be in Buzzards Roost Marina before it was sold off and prices went sky-high. I can't afford to keep it in a marina. I attend the boat at least once a week and it does have an anchor light that works.
Now what am i going to have to do every 45 days? Even though my boat is at anchor and in an out of the way spot, its not abandoned at all.
As for the issue of boats on the Ashley, i moved my boat from that area due to them. Every time we had a storm, another boat would end up in the marsh. Something needs to be done out there.