The owner of an 83-foot dragger that sank in the New Meadows River in Harpswell on January 10 is due in court in May on charges of abandoning a watercraft. Cyrus Cleary owns the Jacob Pike, the sunken vessel.
Paul Plummer, Harspwell Harbor Master, says estimates to remove the boat are about 100 thousand dollars, and Cleary faces a Class E misdemeanor charge with a fine of only one thousand dollars. Plummer says more accountability in these cases is needed.
"A fine doesn't mean anything if nothing happens to the boat. So, our goal is that we want the boat gone or at least some sort of forced restitution, anything that can help the town or the federal government remove this vessel."
The U.S. Coast Guard has stepped in to take over remediation for the Jacob Pike because the boat poses a pollution threat. The agency is appealing to U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington to lift the boat, remove it and destroy it.
