Derelict Vessels

FWC is helping local law enforcement to identify and recover derelict boats from the storm.

Police have a year-old old tool in which owners of decaying boats in peril can sign them over for rapid removal.

Nonstop migrant landings in the Florida Keys has overwhelmed federal law enforcement agencies. But the county must deal with the boats left behind in an already fragile environment.

They include reducing the amount of time people have to remove damaged boats from waterways and to provide uniform requirements for local governments about debris-removal contracts.

Hurricane Ian displaced more than 4,000 vessels, vehicles, and trailers. Now that they've been assessed, more than 500 of them are marked as "abandoned."

A program through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is aimed at quickly removing privately owned boats that have been abandoned or wrecked.

A new state law aimed at preventing derelict vessels will require boats anchored offshore in the Keys to move at least every 90 days. Boaters say that will make them less safe. They also want more training and sheltering options during rough weather.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the county has begun removing the neglected boats, which had become an "eyesore" and pose a safety threat to swimmers and boaters.

The state wants to make boaters in the Keys anchored out "on the hook" move to regulated mooring fields or move every three months. Some boaters say that would sink one of the last affordable ways to live in the expensive island chain.