- Who: Boaters, residents, sheriff’s deputies, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission across all four counties.
- What: Abandoned and at-risk vessels are accumulating in local waterways faster than they can be legally removed.
- Where: From Vero Beach and the Indian River Lagoon down through Fort Pierce, Jensen Beach, and Manatee Pocket.
A cluster of wrecked and sunken boats near North Hutchinson Island has boaters in Fort Pierce worried someone is going to get hurt. Roughly 15 vessels sit in various states of disrepair at Wildcat Cove, some sunk on top of each other, most without lights after dark.
That cove is not an outlier. It is one visible example of a problem showing up in nearly every navigable waterway on the Treasure Coast, and the rules meant to address it move far slower than the boats accumulate.
Rising Costs Are Pushing People Onto the Water
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has linked the growth directly to affordability. Special operations deputy Lt. Michael Dougherty told WPTV the county has seen a significant increase in people living aboard idle or deteriorating vessels, with some boats breaking loose and striking docks.
Dougherty described the result as floating communities forming on South Florida waters, a pattern deputies say has expanded as housing costs climbed. Some of these vessels are genuinely abandoned. Others are occupied by people with nowhere else to go…