Boat Wreckage Cleanup (2020)

In another great collaboration between Heal the Ocean and MarBorg Industries, a boat wreckage that had been littering Montecito beaches between East Beach to Hammonds was cleaned up on Wednesday, November 11, 2020.

The work, funded through Heal the Ocean by the Johnson Ohana Foundation, was performed by a MarBorg crew and heavy equipment at 1:15 p.m. low tide. The logistics of the project, organized by Brian Borgatello of MarBorg Industries, involved 12 MarBorg laborers accessing the beach from the Channel Drive/Biltmore area, to join up with 1 Equipment Operator, 1 CAT Excavator, 1 Roll-Off driver and truck, 1 semi-low-bed-and-driver – all coming to the wreckage area from the East Beach field by the Clark Estate.

The fractured boat had littered the beach with splintered pieces of wood, boat machinery, cushions, electronics, and other debris that presented dangers to beach users.

It is not the first time MarBorg has come to clean up broken-up boats that break their moorings off East Beach in a strong wind and crash in the surf. This last sailboat hit the beach sometime in September 2020. Citizens tried to help by picking up pieces and stacking them in little piles, but most of it was too enormous to handle. MarBorg’s heavy equipment broke apart the boat, scooped up the debris, while crew members walked the beach to pick up the remaining boat pieces.

The project has reduced risks to the environment and the public and makes for safer water activities for those recreating in the ocean.

Hillary Hauser, Executive Director of Heal the Ocean, is in discussion with Santa Barbara Harbor Operations Manager Erik Engebretson, to organize an approach to various state and local agencies to work up a plan to limit the crashing of boats on the beaches or to find means of insurance or grants for cleanup. As it is, there is no recourse for the cleanup of a crashed boat except for the public to clean up the mess themselves. Many of the boats are shelters for low- or no-income people, who have no insurance or means of paying for the cleanup.