Vessels of all kinds, from dinghies to cruisers, from fishing boats to icebreakers, are often abandoned on public land — commonly on the state-owned shorelines, river and lake bottoms, and tidelands. These abandoned and derelict vessels leak polluting fuels, they scour the bottom and degrade habitat, let loose contaminants like lead paint and asbestos, and they can pose navigational hazards. DNR counts about 160 such vessels across the state — not counting hundreds more on private property or those working their way toward derelict-hood. Removing derelicts can be pricey. It can cost from $20,000 to $2 million to raise and dispose of a single boat depending on where it is, how big, and what kinds of hazards it poses. If a dive team is required, that alone can cost $700 per hour. All that is in addition to the costs to the Department of Ecology and the Coast Guard who pump out the fuel when the boat first goes down in order to minimize spills.
DNR gets involved when boats are abandoned on public lands. They have funds to help pay for derelict removal to the tune of about $2.5 million per biennium. Sometimes the Legislature will kick in an appropriation for more funds for an urgent and expensive clean-up. In 2013, some $4.5 million was approved for removing multiple large sunken ships from Tacoma’s Hylebos waterway. But such budgets are set only every two years.
When it is removed, disposing of it would be a problem. Part of the expense is that the nearest place it could be towed and broken up would be a long voyage to Portland, Port Angeles or even Seattle. Despite the maritime and recreational economy of southwest Washington and the Columbia River, there are few options to dismantle old vessels in the area.
The Port of Ilwaco, however, has a plan — one centered on recycling. Ilwaco’s port has berths for about 800 boats, permanent and transient, and more than 100 are commercial fishing boats that bring in tuna, anchovies, bottom fish and other treasures depending on the season. You can buy the fish right at the dock. The Port has had its share of abandoned vessels, or ones that have sunk at their moorings, and has worked often with DNR to remove them, says Port manager Guy Glenn, Jr. Ilwaco is the site of a new pilot program to build an indoor vessel dismantling facility large enough to handle big boats and control polluting runoff from the process.
Instead of a tow to Port Angeles, regional derelicts would be brought there for on-site recycling. Better yet, abandoned boats that haven’t sunk yet can be recycled before they become a problem. The Port has a fenced yard containing boats that are awaiting dismantling — a kind of Boat Purgatory. They run the gamut from wooden hulled vessels to steel, fiberglass, even concrete.
Recycling can include stripping fittings that can be sold to restorers, valuable wood that can be repurposed, even fiberglass that can be chopped up and reused in things like highway jersey barriers. Last spring, the state DNR announced a $950,000 grant to help build the recycling facility, which the Port will run with a private partner.
That investment is part of the “Rural Communities Partnership Initiative,” a program coordinated by DNR to find shovel-ready local projects that boost rural economies, protect state lands, and solve environmental and land management problems. The program is driven by local requests.
Southwest Washington is the site of four announced rural initiatives, including Ilwaco’s derelict recycling center, a forest management learning lab for students in partnership with the school district in Kalama; a new research program to control burrowing shrimp, which threaten the oyster beds of Pacific and Gray’s Harbor counties; and the revival of a sawmill in Raymond to produce sustainably harvested hardwoods, like alder. “Our rural economies are absolutely critical,” says state Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, who oversees DNR.
Read the full story at https://crosscut.com/2018/08/recycling-washingtons-ghost-ships-could-turn-trash-treasure.