Transport committee  We've done some of the less complex, larger vessels with the $3 fee, with the $2-million biennium money that we get, but we did receive, I think about four or five years ago, a large $5-million appropriation from our state legislature to specifically focus on larger previously co

Transport committee  First, our program isn't restricted by the tonnage of a vessel, but by the size of a vessel. The funding we get can't be used for any vessels over 200 feet, so approximately 60 metres to 70 metres in length. In terms of the insurance, we found that most of the large commercial

Transport committee  Only if a vessel has a long-term moorage agreement or contract with a private or public moorage operator—a marina—are they required to have insurance. If a vessel is on an authorized mooring buoy, for example, that they own, they don't have to have insurance. I guess you could sa

Transport committee  Yes. The stick-and-carrot analogy, or the way it works, is that if you have your vessel moored in that marina and you don't have insurance and the vessel sinks, the marina or the public entity wouldn't have access to the derelict vessel funds to remove that boat.

Transport committee  We do deal with larger vessels ourselves in Washington State. Just a couple of years ago we removed a 170-footer that was previously a military tug. We've done old scientific research vessels. We've actually done a couple of old Canadian Coast Guard vessels that were purchased by

Transport committee  Most of the transitions were done to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program. We went through things like providing additional authority for us and other agencies to board vessels, refining the custody process so that it would adhere to the due process requireme

Transport committee  Over the past year we've worked with a company that is interested in pursuing that type of approach. They recycle fibreglass and many things. We're continuing to work with them to try to find a feasible solution for them to recycle fibreglass vessels. We try to salvage any usabl

Transport committee  Sure. On the registration, when you register your vessel in Washington State, you get a registration sticker that you're required to put on the bow of your vessel or on the window of your vessel. Through that system, which is administered by the Washington State Department of Li

Transport committee  The vessel turn-in program was created two or three years ago in one of the many pieces of legislation that have been focused on our program in the last 15 years. I think with the success that we've seen in the program over those past years, as Troy mentioned, we get close to 100

Transport committee  For us, the biggest benefit is that it encourages registration. One of the witnesses earlier stated that it's important to know who owns the boat in order to determine who to go after, and that's exactly what we have found. A big part of our program isn't necessarily the fines th

Transport committee  When you register your vessel in Washington, as you're required to, you pay a fee. I'm not sure what the overall fee is, but that money goes into several different pots that pay for things like building boat launches and pump-out facilities and encouraging boater education progra

Transport committee  Thank you for asking us to participate today. My name is Kyle Murphy. I'm with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. I oversee the derelict vessel removal program in Washington. Our program has been around for 15 years. Throughout those 15 years, the program has