Bay Area Edition | February 2026

BY RACHEL LELAND

Measuring the impact

In their own words

What happens next?

Bauerlein, who grew up on Clear Lake and navigated the area’s waters for years, said the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive increase in abandoned boats as more people wanted to get into boating as a hobby. However, they were unaware of the costs of maintaining and storing a boat, which Bauerlein said generally runs 10% of the boat’s value. “When money gets tight, you know you’re paying for the house, you’re buying food, everything else is secondary,” Bauerlein said. Lavigne said boat owners who can’t aord marina storage often give their vessels to someone who will live aboard full-time. “They’ll come get it for free, and they won’t document it or have insurance or anything, and they’ll bring it out to the middle of the lake, and then they’ll anchor that boat,” Lavigne said. In December, League City passed an ordinance creating a formal permit system for liveaboard boats requiring annual renewal and routine safety and sanitation checks in an eort to keep track of abandoned boats, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. League City Mayor Nick Long said he toured the lake with the GLO and was told there were at least 26 abandoned boats at the time, prompting him to reach out to other coastal communities to work on a solution. “We don’t want … those boats to be pushed out in the lake to where it becomes everybody’s problem, and so we’ve established the procedures behind that and established how we’re going to get ahead of this,” Long said.

Bauerlein said pirates were responsible for how many boats were sinking, as well, because they strip abandoned boats for valuable items, such as batteries or the motor, leaving the boat to sink after it lls up with rainwater. The process of removing these “dead” boats is paralyzed by state-level ine- ciencies and a lack of nancial support, Bauerlein said. Even after the GLO determines a boat is abandoned, the agency must wait for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to issue a certicate to authorize removing the boat—a process that can take months.

“Even though we may believe a boat is abandoned or derelict, the state’s lawyers still have the nal say as to whether they believe that [it] meets their denition

of abandonment. We don’t always see eye to eye on that.” RUSSELL LAVIGNE, PRESIDENT OF DEAD BOATS SOCIETY

“Since tracking began in 2006, the [Texas General Land Oce] has tracked 1,857 derelict vessels

Abandoned boats by age

in 18 coastal counties.” SAMANTHA WHARRY, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY, TEXAS GENERAL LAND OFFICE

Currently and statewide, 73 registered boats, the majority of which are older, have been led as abandoned under Texas state law since July 2025.

1980-1999: 39.73% 2000-2014: 26.03% 2015-present: 15.06% Pre-1980: 19.18%

14 11

Abandoned boats by length

“We ran all over the lake and growing up, we water skied out here. We swam. We played, and it just frustrates

<15 ft 23 The majority of the abandoned boats logged by Texas Parks and Wildlife are shorter than 20 feet.

me to see these junk boats.” PHILLIP “CAPT. PIP” BAUERLEIN, OWNER OF TUGBOAT U.S. CLEAR LAKE AND GALVESTON

15-20 ft 29

20-30 ft 17

30 ft+ 4

SOURCE: TEXAS GENERAL LAND OFFICE, TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMUNITY IMPACT

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