Exeter Port Authority's Harbour Patrol Team recovered an abandoned 28ft yacht from the banks of the River Exe near Turf Lock last Sunday (14 August).

It was removed as it was considered a navigational danger to other vessels and a threat to wildlife and the environment.

The Harbour Patrol Team waited for high tide on Sunday night just before 10pm to re-float the yacht. They then towed it back to Topsham where it was lifted out of the water at Trout's Boatyard and taken away on a flatbed lorry for scrap.

On flat-bed lorry for scrap (Dave Littlefield/ Exeter City Council)

More and more boats being abandoned on River Exe

More than 30 such abandoned boats have been found on the River Exe in the recent past, and the problem is reportedly getting worse.

The Port Authority's Harbour Patrol Team "does everything possible to locate the owners" so that they can be lifted out of the Exe and disposed of responsibly, but this is not always possible - and if left to decay they can leach oil and fuel into the water.

A spokesperson for Exeter City Council, which operates Exeter Port Authority, said: "Abandoned boats on the Exe are becoming more and more of a problem for the team.

"Many fibreglass boats built in the 1960s and 70s are now coming to the end of their working of useful life. The cost of disposing of them is in the region of £300 per foot. For a thirty-foot boat this equates to around £3,000.

"As a result, harbours across Europe are unfortunately seeing a huge rise in boats stripped of all identification marks and abandoned.

"Studies by the University of Brighton have found that shards of fibreglass ten times thinner than a strand of hair have been found embedded in oysters and other aquatic life in Chichester Harbour.

"The City Council's Harbour Patrol Team are urging people to consider the responsibilities of taking on an older boat and think about the long term costs of renovation and eventual disposal."

Members of the public have been asked to report any sightings of abandoned boats.

Click here to visit the Exeter Port Authority website.