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A Step Taken in Oakland Waterways’ Long-Awaited Cleanup

When Latitude 38 reader Denis Carroll looked out across the Alameda Estuary at approximately 12:30 last Tuesday, he first thought he was watching a sand dredge heading out on its rounds. But a closer look revealed the barge was carrying multiple boats on its deck. Denis sent us a couple of photos of the the Lind Marine barge and looped us in with his query to Brock de Lappe, longtime advocate for clearing derelict vessels out of the Estuary.

barge leaving Oakland marina
Yep, the barge is carrying boats.
© 2024 Denis Carroll

Brock forwarded a release titled “OPD/Lind Marine Estuary Cleanup.”

“Today the Oakland Police Department Marine Patrol Unit, under the direction of Port Security Officer Kaleo Albino, removed 17 derelict and abandoned vessels (ADV) from the Oakland Marinas. These boats were loaded onto a barge by Lind Marine and will be taken to the Lind shipyard on Mare Island for scrapping and disposal. This effectively prevents any of these vessels from becoming illegal anchor-outs on the Estuary. Funding was provided by a SAVE grant from the California Division of Boating and Waterways.”

Boats tied alongside the barge waiting to be hauled.
© 2024 Brock de Lappe - Marine Consulting

“I have been advocating this approach for years,” Brock replied in his email. “OPD [Oakland Police Department] is hopeful of receiving a large grant from the NOAA marine debris removal program this fall. That will provide the funding to remove sunken and beached boats on the Estuary … far more difficult.”

The cleanup has been a long time in the making.
© 2024 Brock de Lappe

“Far better than crushing boats in the parking lot at the Jack London Aquatic Center,” Brock adds. “They now have shown the value of using Lind Marine resources.”

Abandoned and derelict boats line the barge like a string of dominoes.
© 2024 Brock de Lappe

8 Comments

  1. robert daprato 7 months ago

    Where do we get some salvage value out of them?
    I see some great parts that I could use!

  2. Its legal to anchor out , most places have a 72 hour rule than you need to move … and insurance is required or at least a good idea if I need to pull into a marina guest dock etc

  3. Rick Drain 7 months ago

    The text says the boats were removed “from marinas.” That implies none were anchor-outs, but were boats abandoned in marinas and not in condition to get a worthwhile lien sale bid.

  4. Capt. Happy 7 months ago

    Authoritarian overreach is what it is. Where’s the auction?

  5. Mustad Marine 7 months ago

    The only thing more expensive than a cheap boat is a free boat!

  6. Karl R 7 months ago

    Thank goodness. Thank you Brock for your tireless efforts. Someday maybe there will be a park on the estuary in your name. It’s incredible how boats go from having some value to having none. From an asset to a liability. There’s a cliff. Whatever that number is, it’s higher than we’d like to think. Anything sitting in the water costs a lot of money, a lot of effort, and a fair bit of know-how to maintain. There seem to be far more boats in existence than the market demands, which drives down values. They are hard to sell, and quickly a $5k boat sitting on the market too long racking up slip fees becomes a ‘free boat’. The instant someone stops pouring money into it, things break, and it becomes a free boat nobody wants, which puts it at best at a -$3k to -$4k valuation (the lowest cost operators charge $100/ft for disposal if you can float it to a ramp). And once it sinks it becomes a $10k – $100k problem for tax payers to fund. There are plenty of boats that may have zero market still in the hands of their caring owners that are happy to have $500 a month swept out of their checking accounts, and a few $k every other year for routine maintenance.They day they stop doing that is the day those boats meet their end.

    • Neal Holmlund 7 months ago

      Karl R – good description of the problem. Fiberglass hulls last a long time (forever?) but everything else decays without ongoing maintenance (money/elbow grease). If you have the time, interest and funds to maintain an old boat, there is great value, but the allure of a new (fiberglass) boat attracts many. Ultimately, these boats age and add to the problem. The Lind disposal in Oakland is interesting but it was only 17 boats, and I didn’t see the cost mentioned in the article. Did the people who abandoned their boats make a “smart” economic decision? Can this approach be expanded, and how? At what cost? What is the sustainable solution to this problem?

  7. Steve H 7 months ago

    I’m surprised marinas aren’t on the hook to pay for removal of derelict/abandoned boats. They could add a security deposit based on cost to salvage or auction for all boats that is refundable when they leave. Apartments all come with a clean up deposit for tenants who leave a mess.

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