NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. – Fox 4 continues its coverage of the abandoned boats at the Old Bridge Marina in North Fort Myers near the Edison Bridge. On Thursday morning, the owner reached out to Fox 4 lead reporter Kaitlin Knapp and sought to explain why the boats are taking so long to remove.

LB Skaggs owns the marina and Nastar Roofing and says he has tried to clean the boats.

“The first thing we did was contact the FWC,” Skaggs said.

Check out why the owner says the boats are still there:

‘A landfill’: Marina owner speaks to Fox 4 about delay in picking up abandoned boats

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is the department responsible for salvaging abandoned vessels. Skaggs says he submitted the salvage application in March 2023.

“Three to four months go by and we’re excited because we’re finally told they’ve awarded the work to a contractor,” Skaggs said.

In messages sent to Fox 4, they said they were told the application would be processed in August 2023.

According to the notes, the FWC informed him in June 2024 that they would not remove the boats.

“I asked why. They had received grants from the state of Florida and had used them all up. Before our debris was picked up, the grants were no longer available,” Skaggs explained.

Knapp asked the FWC about the boats earlier this week and they said they could not remove them because they were private property.

When Skaggs asked about the claim, the company said it would address the matter on Thursday afternoon.

Skaggs said he wanted to clean it himself, but was told he would be arrested because it was theft.

He tried to contact the boat owners.

“What hampered us the most was the fact that we couldn’t reach the boat owners to give us permission to remove the boats,” Skaggs said.

The owner contacted the city of Fort Myers. Emails show that Skaggs had been talking to them since October 2023. Early last week, Skaggs met with many city leaders about the abandoned ships, the city told Knapp.

“We are in the process of submitting the permit,” Skaggs said. “It still needs to be reviewed so that the environmentalists can do the cleanup.”

This is consistent with the city’s statement that it is preparing to seek approval from the Environmental Protection Agency for the environmentally safe removal of the boats.

According to DEP, the permit is obtained through the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The DEP website states that Lee County currently has 532 permits under review, the second highest number in the state. Collier County has 585.

“We’re embarrassed. We own the property,” Skaggs said. “It’s embarrassing to know that we own it and it looks like a landfill.”

Knapp asked what Skaggs would like to tell the community about the boats.

“It’s not my job to apologize. I think it’s the state of Florida’s job to apologize,” he said. “I’ve tried to do everything I can do.”

The City of Fort Myers told Fox 4 they will be putting up signs on the property to alert boat owners that the boats are legally being removed by the owner, but the city says the signs will not be put up until the permit is issued.

“We haven’t just abandoned the property,” Skaggs said. “It’s something that’s out of our control at this point.”

Ideally, Skaggs would like to remove the boats within three to four months, but without approval there is no timetable.