An abandoned boat in the Waitematā harbour in Auckland. Photo: Katie Scotcher / RNZ
"Once it has sunk, it can get very expensive very quickly."
That's the observation of the Tauranga deputy harbourmaster Dan Rapson, urging boat owners to stay on top of maintenance while boats are floating as more and more derelict and abandoned boats are being found in the Bay of Plenty.
"It's much cheaper to get on top of it while it's floating."
In just the last two months the harbourmaster's team has had to recover three sunken boats. with another recovery still underway.
There was often trouble tracking down owners, and it meant recovery costs might be passed on to ratepayers.
Rapson told Morning Report the issue was not isolated to the region and was a problem local councils and governments around the world were dealing with.
"It's a worldwide issue with boats from the '70s and '80s getting up to 40-plus years old. They're just coming to the end of their life.
"Owners aren't keeping up with the maintenance and it just becomes too much for them sometimes."
While the cost to recover the boats varied, Rapson said it was important to remove them as they could be a hazard to other shipping and the environment.
"Really it depends on a whole lot of factors; the size of the boat and what the boat is made of, whether it's fibreglass, wood, steel. Potentially, where it's sunk, how deep it is, and if commercial divers need to be used.
"It's quite a hard one to put a figure on because it's just varies so much on the different boats. But it is costing the council a fair sum of money."
But it was not just age causing boats to sink, with extreme weather also playing a part.
"One of these boats that sunk recently was directly related to the heavy rain and the rainfall causing it to sink."
As there was no boat registration system in New Zealand, tracking down the owners could sometimes be difficult, and if the owner could not be found, the cost would fall back on the local council, he said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
