We see abundant funding easily obtained for lighthouse restoration and volunteer groups for care-taking abound. If a popular lighthouse is threatened with demolition or is allowed to deteriorate, there is a public outcry. Lightships enjoy no such comforts. There are only seven of these ships left that stand any chance of survival and even so their future remains tenuous.
Funding is either non-existent or miserly at best and nobody seems to care.
As an ex-lightship sailor I quickly realized that such a question deserves some hard and realistic answers. Then too, there were considerable differences of environment in which the two existed. The general public could easily view most of them and a few were even available to visit. Lightships were generally over the horizon somewhere and out of sight. The lighthouse setting was often majestic, sometimes stunning.