Costly Boat Wrecks Run Up Big Costs for Santa Barbara County

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – Boats that get away from an anchorage and crash into the shore are sometimes uninsured and badly damaged. It creates a big cost that sometimes ends up covered by a source other than the owner.

For years Santa Barbara City has been hit hard with boats that are off of East Beach and outside of the harbor.

In bad weather one or more is often on the sand jammed into the shore and tilted. In some cases already with a broken hull.

The city now has a cleanup policy that gives the owner a chance to retrieve the boat through personal or insurance means. If not, it is crushed and removed by Marborg Industries using heavy equipment and a hand crew.

The non-profit, Heal the Ocean, and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Roy Lee's office have identified the costs and the need to have a county policy on these damaged vessels.

In a report to the county, the urgency included:

 • Hazardous materials that must be removed quickly before the vessel breaks apart.

• Typical removal costs range from roughly $5,000 to $15,000+, with an average around $7,000.

• Repeat offenders and uninsured vessels make cost recovery difficult.

• Some wrecks require coordination among County, Coastal Commission, Coast Guard, non-profits, landowners, and contractors.

Karina Johnston is the Executive Director of Heal the Ocean and says the risks are increasing. "As we face the potential for increased storms and impacts associated with El Nino conditions  these derelict boats  are likely going to become additional hazards and  more problematic."

For more than ten years, Harry Rabin with Heal the Ocean says he has been responding sometimes alone or in coordination with the Harbor Patrol, Santa Barbara County Sheriff, U.S. Coast Guard and TowBoatUS out of Ventura County to save, stabilize or salvage vessels.

He says the problem exists even without foul weather. "Out there you will see sitting time bombs literally in a health perspective, with the toxics they contain and the potential to come ashore."

Rabin has, in the past, gone to wrecked vessels to remove fuels and dangerous materials before the waves break the boat apart. In the past, some have been crushed against the rocks and debris is left floating for miles.

He says some of the boat owners, who buy the cheapest vessel they can get, have not followed through with safety and insurance plans. "They are being used as a used car lot  and they are peddling these vessels  to those who can't afford a home  and are certainly incapable of maintaining a vessel in an anchorage," said Rabin.

The city's stronger policy is being reviewed by the county but in the meantime it has moved the issue down the coast over the line in the county's jurisdiction where the additional enforcement is now needed.

Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann said, "it is my understanding in Santa Barbara at the marina they require insurance and that has meant there are more in the (county) waters without insurance and that is escalating the problem."

Wade Cowper is the Chief of Staff for Supervisor Roy Lee and in a presentation he said, " the owners often do not take  responsibility after the boat is ashore and that leaves public agencies and  community partners scrambling  after that damage is  already done."

The costly removal of the vessels may be covered with some financial help from the state under different progrms the county is looking at.

Rabin warned that if one vessel in the offshore anchorage now crashes it will be very costly, possibly $100,000 to cut up and clean up because it is all metal.

The county is going to look at policies enforced by Santa Barbara and other cities and come back with its own enforcement plan.

(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)

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