Under new federal funding aimed at removing abandoned and derelict vessels from the nation’s waterways, the state of Maine will have five such vessels removed as part of a $758,500 grant. There are at least a half dozen in the Barnegat Bay alone, but New Jersey has no way to remove the dangers those boats pose.

“We have to do what Florida did,” said Walt Bohn of Sea Tow Central New Jersey, which operates out of Key Harbor in Waretown.