PUNTA GORDA — Two weeks ago, Sox Youngblood reported a sinking boat in Charlotte Harbor. He reached out to agencies, but nobody did anything, he said.
For days, the licensed drone operator recorded video of the 35-foot boat which was leaking fluids into Charlotte Harbor. He shared it with the Punta Gorda Fire Department.
“If this had been a motor home tipped over on the interstate leaking gas, they would have been out there right away,” said Youngblood. “But since it’s a boat in the harbor, not much was being done.”
Youngblood said something was finally done to secure the spill.
“The Punta Gorda Police Department is aware of the recent sunken vessel in the Peace River,” city of Punta Gorda Assistant City Manager Melissa Reichert wrote in an email to The Daily Sun.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in investigating the boat as a derelict vessel, according to Reichert.
“The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the United States Coast Guard have also been notified about the potential fuel spill,” Reichert wrote. “They indicated that this is not a hazard at this time and residual fuel is normal due to tides…Out of an abundance of caution, the Punta Gorda Fire Department has constructed a marine boom around the vessel to contain any other possible fuel spills,” she wrote.