With the current “green revolution” taking place across the world, one would assume that New York City would have an agency designed to clean up derelict boats and debris from the numerous harbors and marinas around the city. Well, one would be wrong.
Many of the old and forgotten boats floating around Brooklyn are cleaned up and scraped not by the city, but by non−profit organizations.
One such organization is the Environmental Taskforce Operations (ETO). Located in Gerritsen Beach, it is dedicated to removing sunken boats and debris from the harbors and marinas around Brooklyn.
Recently, the ETO removed a dilapidated houseboat from the Kings Plaza Marina that was illegally tied to city property.
“There was a lot of garbage, and it was full of debris,” said ETO Vice President Bill Dunphy.
After reporting the houseboat, whose owner was not found, to the Department of Environmental Conservation and receiving no response, the ETO decided to remove the boat themselves.
“[There was] potential for this thing to sink,” ETO Treasurer Greg Moss said. “No one would ever find it if it was underwater.”
Time equals money. Moss explained that to remove the boat when it is above water can cost between $5,000–10,000; once underwater, it can cost anywhere up to $25,000.
ETO volunteers and local businesses Custom Marine, Special Projects Management and Global Trucking all donated their time, equipment, fuel and manpower toward the excavation.
Using a pay loader, an excavator and a retired Navy Seal diver, the ETO was able to remove the houseboat within six hours.
Among the objects removed were nine mattresses, four propane tanks and a refrigerator.
One of the major concerns for removing the houseboat in such a timely manner was the toxic chemicals that the local wildlife would have been exposed to.
The marina is host to many different species of wildlife including horseshoe crabs, killifish, blue claw crabs, aquatic birds and plants, and more.
Derelict boats can also be a hazard to humans, as they can crash into other house boats.
Dunphy equates the recent economic recession as a contributing factor to people abandoning their boats, as it can cost between $80 and $150 a foot to keep one at a boat yard.
The ETO is a non−profit organization, formed at the conclusion of Operation Clean Bay, a National Park Service volunteer project aimed at removing debris from the Jamaica Bay coastal waterways.
Operation Clean Bay removed over 150 derelict vessels and over 100 collapsed finger docks in the past two years. It is run by three directors – Moss, Dunphy, and Perry Papadopoulos – and over a dozen volunteers.
“We are trying to get someone in the mayor’s office to notice,” said Dunphy. “Maybe if we embarrass them enough by using a private company rather than a city company, they will pay attention.”
