St. Lucie County has been working for a year to remove derelict boats from the Indian River Lagoon and other waterways.<\/p>\n
Dennis Meyer, who kayaks near Barbour Point in Fort Pierce, has noticed the abandoned vessels.<\/p>\n
WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n
“It’s sort of an eyesore. I can count 10 more abandoned boats right now. I know where they’re at, just in this general area with a two-mile radius.”<\/p>\n
But James Beams, senior project manager with St. Lucie County Port, Inlet and Beaches, said they’ve been cleaning them up.<\/p>\n
“I know it’s a big concern for a lot of our local citizens. We’re just doing our best now.”<\/p>\n
Beams spoke about their abandoned vessel program, which started last December.<\/p>\n
So far, in partnership with Florida DEP and FWC, they’ve removed 18 abandoned vessels.<\/p>\n
“We take everything from county line to county line.”<\/p>\n
If the boats are left in the water, Beams said it can dirty the waterways.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of environmental concern with the diesel and oil tanks and then holding tanks.”<\/p>\n
The abandoned boats can also be a navigational hazard.<\/p>\n
“They break free and crash into other people’s property.”<\/p>\n
Before the program, the county would remove them upon request.<\/p>\n
But now, with $75,000 from the Florida Inland Navigation District, Beams’ team can get to the vessels before they’re an issue.<\/p>\n
So far, it’s only cost the county $24,000.<\/p>\n
“We’re able to get to these vessels a lot earlier. Before they become the eyesore and the problem, we’re taking care of it.”<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Lucie County has been working for a year to remove derelict boats from the Indian River Lagoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[46552,46553,46554,46555,44416,46556,46557,46558,46559,46560,46561,46562,46563,46564,46565,46566,46567,46568,46569,46570,46571,46572,46573,46574,46575,46576,46577,46578,46579,46580,46581,171,173,172,46582,46583,46584,46585,46586,46587,46588,46589,46590,46591,46592,46593,46594,46595,46596,46597,46598,46599],"class_list":{"0":"post-84753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-answer-questions","9":"tag-cabinet-medicine","10":"tag-cancer-recommend","11":"tag-capable-hands","12":"tag-cardiologist","13":"tag-client-discuss","14":"tag-clinic-appointment","15":"tag-communication-problem","16":"tag-confident-speak","17":"tag-cropped-prescribe","18":"tag-discussion-measures","19":"tag-disease-prevention","20":"tag-doc-patient","21":"tag-doctor-office","22":"tag-effective-listen","23":"tag-family-meeting","24":"tag-female-therapist","25":"tag-general-practitioner","26":"tag-get-attending","27":"tag-give-advice","28":"tag-healthcare-assist","29":"tag-hospital-checkup","30":"tag-ill-health","31":"tag-information-protection","32":"tag-insurance-consult","33":"tag-medical-diagnosis","34":"tag-nurse-examine","35":"tag-offer-help","36":"tag-people-details","37":"tag-person-explain","38":"tag-physician-specialist","39":"tag-port-st-lucie","40":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","41":"tag-port-st-lucie-news","42":"tag-prescription-medic","43":"tag-private-practice","44":"tag-professional-desk","45":"tag-qualified-staff","46":"tag-receive-responsible","47":"tag-sick-worker","48":"tag-stethoscope-closeup","49":"tag-surgeon-consultation","50":"tag-test-result","51":"tag-therapy-treatment","52":"tag-trust-concept","53":"tag-two-lady","54":"tag-uniform-shot","55":"tag-visit-care","56":"tag-visitor-center","57":"tag-white-cure","58":"tag-woman-propose","59":"tag-young-coat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}