Visit my Parents once a year in Moore Haven Florida. My dad takes me for a ride on Lake Okeechobee. At one marina there are 2 large yachts that sunk years ago. I know the oils/fuels were removed but why would such a tourist heavy place allow these eyesores and disease makers to just sit? I'm also amazed how people let a still floating- large yacht- 35 45 55 ft long rot at their mooring - moored behind their home. Fiberglass that is all chalk and weathering away. Trees from land growing limbs THRU the cabin. Trees and bushes growing on a boat. I told my dad some people let a valuable car rot in a field- in Florida people let what was once a valuable boat rot at its mooring.

IMO, anyone with enough wealth to own the vessel in the first place, most likely has it titled in an untouchable corporate entity, and getting reimbursed for removal after getting a court order/paperwork to authorize is very cumbersome, tedious, and outside most bureaucrat's comfort zone.
It is an eyesore, it is common, and I am not in full agreement all waste hazards are removed until they have already leaked.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2023/10/16/will-florida-take-steps-remove-derelict-boats-faster/#:~:text=During%20the%20fiscal%20year%20that,the%20waters%20off%20Pinellas%20County.

You're making a big assumption here. Money comes and goes. And Florida is one of those places where today you made $100K and the future is bright so you go on a spending spree but you don't make a dime for the next two years. Boat upkeep is ridiculous - I met a guy with a decent size boat in West Palm who told me it cost him $300 every two weeks to have the thing washed - which is a must to keep the salt off it. Having the bottom scraped every year is like $20k.

Proof of the old saying " a boat is a hole in the water to throw money into". Ex owner of a 23"foot Trojan money eating cruiser.

around here it's junk yards sitting in yards, Flordia has junk boats

"IMO, anyone with enough wealth to own the vessel in the first place, most likely has it titled in an untouchable corporate entity, ...."

I then stand by my "assumption".

It is not just Florida. Most commercially traveled water ways in the PNW have sea junk scattered about.

IWith respect to FL, I always figured a lot of those boats were hurricane damaged and/or obtained by an absentee owner that went AWOL. You can buy a large, crappy cabin cruiser for 10k or less up here. Some people buy boats that have no powertrain for an inexpensive living quarters ( Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, etc).

Limited cheap dock space, prohibitions/ordnances against live aboards, time limits on tie ups, shore power, sanitary waste disposal, etc in Florida are strong impediments against low-cost water living in Florida.
Having a boat with no propulsion is a recipe for disaster when a hurricane approaches.
I agree, hurricanes are IMO the greatest catalyst for the abandoned submerged watercraft.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-ian-florida-gulf-coast-boats-left-derelict/

Many of the boats in Florida that are semi sunk are not the result of a hurricane. I believe there's an incredibly irresponsible attitude to boat ownership there and laws that hold no one accountable. I couldn't read the link to the article unless I sign up- but I know even when they track down the owner that owner simply ignores all demands and the state/county are responsible for removing. Why cant there be jail time for irresponsible owners?