Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall has pledged to address the issue of abandoned boats in rivers and harbors in the West Country of England, starting with the removal of vessels on the River Avon in Devon.
The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate established by Edward III in 1337. Its charter dictates that each future Duke of Cornwall will be the eldest surviving son of the Monarch and heir to the throne. The revenue from the estate is used to fund the public, private and charitable activities of The Duke and his immediate family.
This decision follows complaints from locals about six deteriorating boats, one of which is nearly submerged during high tide. It's common knowledge among boaters that derelict vessels leak pollutants like fuel and oil and adversely affect the waterway add the wildlife it supports.
The Duchy, which owns the River Avon’s riverbed, says it will collaborate with its moorings manager to deal with the boats. The river is littered with about 100 abandoned vessels, while hundreds more clutter other rivers and harbors in nearby Devon and Cornwall.
John Ashton, a local wildlife artist, says the number of derelict boats is a blight on the area.
He told Daily Express, "It's getting worse year by year. Up to about 10 years ago, everything was pristine. There are more wrecks here now than I have ever seen and I've been here for about 40 years."
Chris Craven, owner of Creekside Boatyard on the River Dart, also highlighted the lack regulation in the boating industry as being a major contributor to the problem. He currently has six boats in his yard that have been abandoned by their owners. He told BBC, "It's like I'm an unlicensed refuse tip," he said. "You don't want them sinking in the river because that causes an even bigger problem and damages the environment. So sometimes you feel morally obliged to get the boat out of the water to stop the area you love getting polluted. They all have oils, fuels, greases and paints in them and we just can't afford to have them uncontrolled in the river."
"It would take two to three weeks to dismantle each one which we won't get paid for, it's not economic," he added.
"We are losing storage space and we just don't know what to do with them."
The issue has become so commonplace that other major cities like Venice, Italy are becoming renowned as much for the abandoned boats as their famous canals. In Canada, the industry has been forced to introduce the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessel Act to issue harsher penalties for abandoning a vessel. Several recent cases in Canada have made headlines as authorities have battled with boat owners to deal with their vessels.
Unlike cars, boats can often be abandoned without consequences. Without a paper trail or hull identification numbers, many boats are untraceable by the time authorities find them. Unsurprisingly, many owners who know their boat is destined to fail remove the hull ID to make identifying it nearly impossible.
"Because of the lack of education in it, and ease of buying a boat, a lot of people find after purchasing that they have bought something which needs a lot of upkeep, or they might have bought something which needs a lot of work doing before it can go in the water." said Craven. "There is also lack of administration behind it. It's therefore very easy to abandon a boat. They are full of oils etc that ends up in the ecosystems - it's quite a toxic thing really," added Craven to Daily Express.
Craven also noted that neighbouring European countries have begun implementing similar measures to make boat disposal more affordable and accessible, but the UK lags behind. Disposing of a boat in the UK costs around £400 per ton ($500 USD), which discourages people from paying the cost -- a common problem around the world.
"A lot of our European neighbours have taken this thing on at district level and being progressive," he said. "In UK we haven't embraced this and there isn't a specific law which says you can't abandon a boat."
The British Ports Association and Defra have both acknowledged that abandoned recreational vessels are a growing problem. A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson confirmed to Daily Express, "The Duchy of Cornwall is working in conjunction with our moorings manager to deal with a small number of abandoned boats on the River Avon. This task is ongoing."
Boaters along the River Avon hope the involvement of Prince Andrew is the beginning of a new push to deal with the growing problem. As one of the most popular waterways in England, it deals with a high volume of boat traffic from powerboats, sailboats, and even smaller commercial traffic. #news
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