An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou as a shrimp boat passes nearby in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou onto a barge during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
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An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
- STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
- STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou as a shrimp boat passes nearby in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
- STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou onto a barge during a vessel removal project in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
- STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
Margaret Kates
It took more than two hours and the power of a large excavator to pull a 20-foot steel boat from its watery grave.
But at least it was being removed.
The difficulty in pulling the abandoned boat from Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin last week illustrated a persistent problem across Louisiana’s coast. An untold number of abandoned and derelict vessels pose navigation and environmental hazards, but there are few options to clear them.
There has been at least one notable example of progress recently. Terrebonne Parish is targeting dozens of abandoned boats for removal from its waterways, with the help of a grant, a nonprofit and insurance proceeds related to Hurricane Ida in 2021.
“The bayous are who we are,” said Noah Lirette, the parish’s chief administrative officer. “It’s important we take care of them, because when we take care of them, we take care of ourselves.”
Left to the parish
Balanced on a floating platform in the bayou Wednesday, the excavator struggled to grip what was left of the submerged boat.
Too many times, the boat would slip out of its jaws, weighed down by mud that accumulated over years spent under water.
Eventually, the excavator was able to pull the boat onto the platform, where a construction crew worked to tie it down.
It was one of an estimated 230 abandoned boats in Terrebonne Parish alone. They end up that way for all sorts of reasons, from sinking to hurricanes blowing them away. In some cases, the boat owner may not have a clear heir when they pass away, or owners may no longer be able to maintain them.
A worker sprays water to remove mud from an abandoned steel boat as an excavator lifts it from Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
Often, local officials are left to remove the boats — a costly, time-consuming project.
Officials in Terrebonne Parish began removing abandoned boats from the parish’s waters last year. They believe they can remove up to 140 boats with current funding, Lirette said.
The BoatUS Foundation, a nonprofit supported by the Boat Owners Association of The United States, gave $1 million in federal funds to Terrebonne Parish to assist. Combined with an additional $1 million in insurance funds, the parish has around $2 million to try and remove as many as it can, Lirette said.
Abandoned and derelict vessels have long been a problem in Terrebonne, but the number of abandoned boats in the parish surged following Ida.
Lirette said he hopes this push will remind residents to responsibly maintain their boats, preventing them from becoming abandoned in the first place.
“We’re trying to reset the expectation in Terrebonne Parish for derelict vessels and derelict properties with more accountability,” he said. “That starts on our end. We lead by example.”
Environmental and safety hazard
Abandoned boats can become more dangerous if they sink to the bottom, said Alanna Keating, director of outreach for BoatUS. Boaters may not be aware that there’s anything there and collide with them.
As water and mud fill an abandoned boat, chemicals left on board, plastic from chairs and a multitude of other contaminants can leach into the waterway, damaging water quality, Keating said.
In some cases, diesel fuel can leak into the water. In the case of an active leak, the U.S. Coast Guard is dispatched to clean up the spill and mitigate the damage, Keating said.
Workers stand beside an abandoned steel boat as it is transported on a barge after being removed from Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin, La., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE
It can cost anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove a derelict boat from the waterway, Keating said, depending on its size and position. Many local governments do not have the funds to do it, she said.
“The cost of removing the boat is typically more than the value of the boat itself,” Keating said. “We have to find sustainable, affordable ways to dispose of boats at the end of their lives.”
In Louisiana, boat owners are not required to hold insurance, Lirette said. And if officials are unable to locate the owners, the local government is left to conduct the removal.
It can take three to six months for officials to prepare for a boat removal, Lirette said. It requires lining up funding, giving boat owners adequate time to claim their vessel and obtaining the necessary permits to do the project.
But Lirette said he hopes there won’t be as many abandoned boats in the future. He said owners are now more motivated to remove their boat instead of letting them become property of the parish.
Gross littering fines for abandoning a boat have doubled, Lirette said. And a 2025 law passed by the Louisiana Legislature required the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to create regulations for salvaging or removing abandoned boats.
The new law gives people who aren’t the owners the opportunity to salvage a damaged or derelict boat, which Lirette hopes will reduce the number of owner-abandoned vessels.
Jason Russo, boating law administrator with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said the agency does not track the locations of abandoned and derelict vessels in the state. It works with local governments and private citizens to identify the last registered owners of a reported abandoned vessel, though sometimes that can’t be confirmed.
It is "undetermined" how many abandoned and derelict vessels are in Louisiana, Russo said.
The BoatUS Foundation obtained a $10 million grant in 2023 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program to address abandoned and derelict vessels around the country. The funds were appropriated as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2022, Keating said.
Terrebonne Parish was one of 10 recipients of grant funds, Keating said. After the distribution of the money, some of the remaining funds will be used for improving the foundation’s “abandoned and derelict vessel” database, which relies on public input.
The foundation will be hosting a conference on abandoned and derelict vessels at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans in December, Keating said. The “Turning the Tide” summit is also funded by the NOAA grant.
Email Margaret Kates at Margaret.Kates@theadvocate.com. Her work is supported with a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
