Texas uses water-based cranes, shears to target decades of scuttled vessels in Gulf of Mexico

Texas targets decades of abandoned ships off coast

PORT LAVACA, Texas — Texas is pairing up with local governments, nonprofits and metal recyclers to clean its coastal waters of vessels scuttled in the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas General Land Office official William Grimes says that until 2005 there was no law barring people from ridding themselves of unwanted boats, ships and even rigs by sinking them or abandoning them in the Gulf. A law passed in 2005 made that practice illegal.

Now Grimes says Texas is on a mission to clear the water of all the unwanted vessels, some dating back to World War I and even the Civil War. Texas is aware of more than 400 such vessels.

Grimes says the scuttled vessels present environmental and navigational hazards.