R.I. Gen. Laws § 46-6-11
The owner of any vessel or of an interest in any vessel willfully or maliciously wrecked, sunken, or abandoned and removed as provided in § 46-6-10, whether owning, at the time the vessel first became an obstruction, or at any subsequent time before the removal is completed, and all persons having or exercising any control over the vessel or any part thereof, and, in the case of any other obstruction so removed, the person or persons originally building, depositing, or causing the obstruction, or at the time of the removal, or at any time prior thereto, owning, maintaining, or using the obstruction in whole or in part, shall be liable to pay the cost and expenses of the removal, or to repay the cost when paid out of the derelict and abandoned vessel and obstruction removal account or treasury as aforesaid; and the cost may be recovered in a civil action brought by the director in the name of the state against the owners or other persons, or against any one or more of them. The attorney general shall conduct and commence the suits. All moneys so repaid or recovered shall be paid into the derelict and abandoned vessel and obstruction removal account or treasury of the state. Any person who pays on a judgment or otherwise more than his or her proportional part of the costs and expenses aforesaid, shall have a claim for contribution against all other parties liable therefor according to their respective interests.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 46-6-11