A plan for keeping the state’s economically critical waterways free of rusting, sinking hulks 
won approval today from a state House committee.
“This bill gets abandoned boats out of our waters before they sink and cause millions of dollars of damage to our state’s shellfish and recreation industries,” said Rep. Drew Hansen of Bainbridge Island, the sponsor of the measure. “This is a real concern for us in Kitsap County, where we have lots of jobs that depend on safe and clean waterways.”
Hansen’s House Bill 1245 is designed to address the kind of incidents that have generated headlines around Puget Sound lately: A 167-foot ship sinking in Tacoma’s Hylebos Waterway, dragging another ship off even keel; the state seizing a 180-foot hulk off Port Ludlow when its owner misfired on plans to tow it to Mexico; a 140-foot former fishing boat catching fire in Penn Cove, disgorging fuel into the water as it sank.
Hansen’s bill attracted broad bipartisan support, with both Republican and Democratic cosponsors and unanimous approval by the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee. The vote sends the measure to the House floor.
The proposal would:
- Set up a voluntary program for owners of decaying boats and ships to turn them over to the state for proper disposal before the vessels fall into the official “derelict” category, which potentially triggers government seizure.
- Require owners of large, aging boats to get them inspected before selling them, and to provide the inspection report to the prospective buyer.
- Extend the current $1 surcharge to the normal $2 derelict-vessel assessment that is included in the fees charged boat owners as part of their annual state registration. The money finances the state fund for removal and disposal of decayed and abandoned vessels when the owner is unknown or unable to cover the cost.
Representatives of recreational boaters, environmental groups and state agencies testified in favor of the bill last month before the committee.
“The derelict-vessel problem is creating a public safety, environmental and economic threat to Washington waters,” David Byers of the state Dept. of Ecology said then. “The bill goes a long ways towards helping local governments, marinas, communities, shellfish growers, private property owners and recreationalists address the derelict vessel challenge that we have in Washington.”