Supporting North Carolina Coastal Communities

Abandoned and derelict vessels (ADVs) are a growing challenge across North Carolina’s coast. Aging boats, storm impacts, and long-term neglect can leave vessels stranded in marshes, waterways, sounds, and along shorelines, creating hazards for navigation, threatening water quality, damaging sensitive habitats, and impacting waterfront communities.

Following Hurricane Florence in 2018, the North Carolina Coastal Federation began working closely with local governments, contractors, and state and federal agencies to support abandoned vessel assessment, removal, and long-term recovery efforts across the coast. Since then, this work has expanded to include policy discussions, prevention strategies, outreach, and technical support for coastal communities navigating ADV challenges.

Since 2020, a combination of nonrecurring state, federal and private funding has allowed the Coastal Federation, in partnership with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and local governments, to create the largest abandoned and derelict vessel removal program in North Carolina, with over 450 vessels removed to date.

This page serves as a resource hub for local governments, harbor managers, marinas, contractors, and community members looking for information, tools, and lessons learned related to abandoned and derelict vessels in North Carolina.

ADV Toolkit for Local Governments

The Federation’s ADV Toolkit for Local Governments is designed to help communities better understand and respond to abandoned and derelict vessel issues.

The downloadable toolkit includes:

• Case studies and lessons learned from North Carolina communities.
• Overview of state and local authorities;
• Model ordinance examples;
• Contractor guidance and questions to ask;
• Best management practices for vessel removals;
• Prevention and preparedness strategies;
• Funding and partnership resources;

N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission Empowered and Funded to Take Action on ADVs

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) was appropriated $1 million from the North Carolina General Assembly in 2021 and $1.5 million in 2022 to address and remove abandoned and derelict vessels across the North Carolina coast. In partnership with the Division of Coastal Management and the Federation, a full-scale collaborative effort was conducted to address the removal of these vessels. The Federation is partnering with WRC to engage legislative staff and members in promoting a permanent abandoned and derelict vessel program. Legislative language was passed in early July 2020, allowing WRC the authority to inspect, investigate, and remove abandoned and derelict vessels under Section 2.1 of S.L 2019-224. Vessels that have been identified as abandoned or derelict are maintained on a state database and prioritized for removal. WRC maintains a map of ADVs and provides an email to report ADVs: adv@ncwildlife.org.

With funding from state appropriations, WRC has removed around 200 vessels since 2021.

Resources

• N.C. Division of Coastal Management ADV Resources
• NOAA Marine Debris Program ADV Information Hub
• Abandoned and Derelict Vessels Toolkit
• Additional Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Photos for Use

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