Economic recession, high fuel prices and poor fishing have forced boat owners to abandon perhaps thousands of vessels on the waterfront, where they are beginning to break up and sink, leaking oil and other pollutants. It is said that boats have long been a barometer of consumer confidence, disposable income, and the overall state of the economy.
But presently, marina and harbor officials are reporting a sudden increase in the past year in the number of deserted pleasure boats and working vessels. In Antioch, a town about 45 miles east of San Francisco, harbormaster John Cruger-Hansen told that on the San Joaquin River, he saw an old crane, a rusted barge, a tugboat and an assortment of other junked boats, all of which had been hauled in and left illegally.
Cruger-Hansen informed that boating is a pure luxury and one of the first things to go when the economy turns south. He added that if it comes to the point of putting food on the table or paying the boat slip fee, it’s the boat that goes. Government officials and environmental groups are calling for more programs and funding to prevent and clean up the junkyard flotillas.
High fuel prices and several disastrous years in the nation’s fishing industry have led fishermen to desert salmon boats in Washington state, crab boats in Maryland, trawlers in Oregon, and lobster boats in Florida. It si also informed that it often found wooden shrimp boats run aground and left to break apart in the Atlantic swells.
