Georgetown harbor cleanup reaches substantial completion

The Georgetown harbor is cleaner and safer thanks to a major collaborative cleanup that removed nearly two dozen abandoned and derelict vessels from its waters. Some had been there for years, not only acting as a source of pollution, but a safety hazard for boaters.

The effort — a partnership between Georgetown County, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), state legislators, and the nonprofit Wounded Nature – Working Veterans — has removed more than 20 vessels from the harbor since work began last summer. Divers from SCDNR returned to the Georgetown Port today to finish hauling out the remaining wrecks. The boats were deposited on the site of the county-owned Georgetown port, where staff with the County’s Public Services Department will remove them to the landfill.

The operation represents one of the most significant waterway cleanups in the region’s recent history, and officials say the environmental and safety benefits will be felt for generations.

“What we’re witnessing here today is far more than just the removal of abandoned boats,” said SCDNR Director Tom Mullikin. “It’s an act of environmental stewardship and maritime responsibility.”

The stakes extend well beyond aesthetics. As vessels decay, they release fuel, oil, battery acid and other hazardous materials into surrounding waters and sediments. Fiberglass hulls break apart over time, releasing microscopic fragments that can be ingested by shellfish and enter the food chain. Mullikin noted that 24% of South Carolina families rely on well water — aquifers that can be contaminated by pollutants leaching from sunken vessels nearby.

“These are carcinogens,” Mullikin said. “These are hazardous materials that are left to deteriorate in our waters, and we’re not going to have it in South Carolina.”

The ecological significance of the harbor’s shallow waters is hard to overstate. One oyster filters 50 gallons of water per day, and the marshes and estuaries surrounding Georgetown support commercial fisheries, recreation and ecosystems that define the Lowcountry’s coastal heritage. State Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, one of several legislative leaders who championed legislation enabling the cleanup, called the harbor’s restoration a point of community pride.

“Coming from me, a native here, I want you to know I am proud of what DNR and the county have done,” Goldfinch said. “I am proud of what the veterans and what Rudy and what all of you have done to support Georgetown.”

Georgetown County Council Chairman Clint Elliott echoed that sentiment, crediting the success of the operation to the range of partners who came to the table — and stayed.

“This is the Georgetown way,” Elliott said. “When something needs doing, we don’t wait around — we figure out who needs to be at the table and we get it done.”

The human effort behind the cleanup has been substantial. SCDNR’s dive team — led by a diver colleagues affectionately call “Tarzan” for his willingness to work in the darkest, highest-current waters — rigged, pumped, and recovered vessels that had sat deteriorating for years. Georgetown County funded crane services and waived landfill disposal fees. Community member Sandy Tiller donated use of a barge. Coastal Crane contributed a significant discount on equipment.

Wounded Nature – Working Veterans, the 501(c)(3) national nonprofit that has removed more than 250 abandoned vessels from South Carolina waters since its founding in 2010, provided essential manpower and operational expertise. Founder and CEO Capt. Rudy Socha — a Marine veteran and licensed boat captain — was direct about the scale of the work still ahead statewide, even as he celebrated what the Georgetown team accomplished.

“We still have three million pounds of trash out there on our coastlines that we need to fund to get rid of,” Socha said. He noted that each small sailboat removed from the harbor represents 8,000 to 9,000 pounds of material — and that the work of removing sunken and submerged vessels far exceeds what a typical beach sweep can accomplish.

The effort also carries financial weight. Mullikin noted that in-kind labor and nonprofit contributions to the Georgetown cleanup alone exceeded $100,000 in value — resources that government could not have supplied on its own.

Proposed state legislation would require boaters to carry liability insurance, and a separate bill would establish an annual $3 fee to fund future derelict vessel removals. Those measures, advocates say, are essential to sustaining cleanup efforts beyond what partnerships and goodwill can support alone.

For now, as the final vessels are removed from what Mullikin called “one of the most beautiful ports in the world,” the harbor is cleaner, safer and better positioned for the future — including a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging project planned for next year.

“Every abandoned boat removed from our waters is one less source of pollution, one safer channel for our mariners, and one more step toward protecting the health of South Carolina’s people, wildlife, and coastal ecosystems,” Mullikin said.