PT Boat in Salt River Bay?

The water in Salt River bay falls under the jurisdiction of the VI government. DPNR would love to get rid of the sunken vessels, and the National Park Service has said it would like to help. As I understand it there is no money on the territorial side to do both the necessary legal work and the physical removal.

Every year a few new boats sink in the bay. I did a visual survey of sunken vessels in the bay 3 years ago and at that time we identified 14. There are many, many more than we were able to locate.

The rumor of a PT boat goes way back. I heard it in the early 90's. But I'm pretty familiar with them (PT boats) and there has never been anything in the bay that closely resembles a PT boat of any generation since I've been here.

PS: One of the boats, the one lying in the eastern mangroves with its deck broken in two, I think, belongs to UVI.

Great information, all. Thanks. Guess it's not a PT after all...

Can't the owners of the boats be prosecuted for something, littering even, for simply abandoning their vessels?

Assuming there is a law to prosecute to, the owner would have to be identified, persecution costs money, the owner may no longer be in the jurisdiction, if a suit was one there may be no money to collect or no way to enforce collection. Much the same story with abandoned vehicles up in the rain forest or anywhere else.

Great, a new business opportunity. Get paid to transport derelict vessels out to the canyon and dispose of, in the middle of the night. Heck, might as well provide Viking Funerals as well. Set the derelict vessel on fire with the deceased on board. If there are no laws covering abandoned vessels, there can't be any laws concerning polluting the ocean and abuse of a corpse.

Some of those derelict boats have been there since Hugo in '89; the owners are long gone.

Assuming there is a law to prosecute to, the owner would have to be identified, persecution costs money, the owner may no longer be in the jurisdiction, if a suit was one there may be no money to collect or no way to enforce collection. Much the same story with abandoned vehicles up in the rain forest or anywhere else.

Prosecution is cheaper than persecution.

Assuming there is a law to prosecute to, the owner would have to be identified, persecution costs money, the owner may no longer be in the jurisdiction, if a suit was one there may be no money to collect or no way to enforce collection. Much the same story with abandoned vehicles up in the rain forest or anywhere else.

Prosecution is cheaper than persecution.

Persecution is more fun.

A consortium of organizations and agencies is working to remove derelict vessels from Coral Bay STJ.

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/removal-projects/coral-bay-community-council-removes-derelict-vessels-usvi

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/cbcc-receives-noaa-grant-to-remove-derelict-vessels-in-coral-bay-harbor/

Many of the sunken vessels in Salt River are badly broken up. It's no longer a matter of floating them and towing away. Disposal would involve a crane on a barge, and lots of diving searching in the mud for pieces (i.e. lots of expensive man-hours).