12/05/2008

Associated Press

Old boats sometimes come to sad ends — abandoned at moorage and dilapidated, and the numbers may be increasing as the recession takes it toll.

When boat owners can't be located or won't take responsibility, port officials on the Oregon coast often run up against a problem that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Even though the state lends a hand, port officials say, the expense of towing and disposing of aged vessels may become a big problem as poor fishing, salmon-saving restrictions and a recession put boat owners out of business.

Port of Bandon General Manager Gina Dearth recalls the 60-foot fishing boat that crossed the bar in 2004, so close to capsizing that you could see the propellers sticking out of the water — "with her screws spinning," as Dearth puts it.

A couple had bought the Marie Ann Gail for $20,000, Dearth said, planning to make the 51-ton vessel into a houseboat. Plans fell through, the boat spent three winters battering the port's aging docks, the port foreclosed, sales at auction didn't work out.

The vessel doesn't start. Even if it did, few skippers would willing to take it back across the bar.

And there's nowhere to take it to a scrap yard.

To tow the Marie Ann Gail would cost $15,000, and then somebody would have to dismantle it.

"There she sits," Dearth sighed, looking over rusted netting, splitting boards and disintegrating chains.

If nothing else works, Dearth may turn to the Oregon Marine Board, which administers $75,000 annually in funds made available by the Legislature in 2006.

The state offers a 75 percent to 25 percent match to local ports, and some cooperation on acquiring the necessary permits that it can take to deal with an abandoned ship.

In the past, some ports have hauled the boats on the beach and burned them, said Randy Henry, operations policy analyst with the marine board.

They've accepted the fines that come with the improper disposal because that can be cheaper than disposing of them properly, he said.

Holding the owners accountable is often impossible, Henry and others say.

Don Mann, general manager of the Port of Newport, says the vessels are paying their moorage these days.

"But with the transition of this economy," he said, "I can't predict yet what next year will be like."

___

Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com