USCG to Scrap 100’s of NE Nav Bouys

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

The USCG has recently announced plans to scrap, remove, abandon hundreds of navigational bouys along the north east coast even in high traffic areas in the name of efficiency and new budgetary constraints.

While an electronic map such as on your phone or GPS or tablet is a convenience a myriad of things can make it as useful as an ejector seat in a Helicopter, a concrete parachute or a cat flap on a submarine!

Let be honest here…. How many times has your phone battery died? Ever had a fuse blow? A wire break? Dropped your electronic device? Just had an electronic device just stop working? Couldn’t read the screen because of sun glare?, or it was too dark?, or too small? Gotten your device wet? How about a solar flare you knew nothing about?

How about those transient HUB (headupbutt) moments where navigational bouys have calmly, patiently, non-judgmentally pointed those on the water to safely continue their voyages?

While it’s convenient to have a GPS (in addition to a paper chart) it’s not without its issues.
Many times sunglare or darkness make it difficult to read, often when you really need to be looking outward and be situationally aware, not looking at or screwing around with an electronic device or display screen ….

Navigational bouys virtually always work for everyone virtually all the time. They save lives regardless of the economics of how much electronics you can afford or keep up to date or keep working when needed most…
Removing them and expecting everyone to have a GPS always available, especially when things start to go south isn’t appropriate or responsible. Navigational bouys work!

The North East isn’t the only region that the USCG is looking to remove hundreds of navigational bouys, it’s just the first in line.
Once this gets efficiency directive gets to be fully implemented this will effect the viability of thousands of navigational bouys all around the United States!

I wonder if it’s possible to value lives not lost by potential tragedies averted by having had these bouys?

Here’s a link to the announcement:
https://onthewater.com/us-coast-guard-p ... -northeast

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Tsatzsue]

I literally just read this. Crazy. Everything is getting cut right now. I have been subject to both equipment and power failures as well as well as solar flare error.

[dustoff]

"Every nation gets the government it deserves", Joseph de Maistre. 1811.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

In a career as a consulting engineer tasked with finding and fixing what’s gone south for clients I’ve consistently found that:
1) Common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone’s garden

[NiceAft]

Posting here is nice, thanks, but it’s not enough.

Write your congressman.
Join B.O.A.T.U.S.
Make yourself heard.

Otherwise it’s like discussing how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. Interesting, but useless. Just saying.

[OverEasy]

Hi NiceAft

Your right!
Both your elected representatives and the USCG.


NOTE FROM MODERATOR:, This is close to the edge of politics. I removed political comment. The information informing us about the decision to remove buoys is important to sailors, us, but please keep comments away from politics.

[Russ]

Posting here is nice, thanks, but it’s not enough.

Write your congressman.
Join B.O.A.T.U.S.
Make yourself heard.

Otherwise it’s like discussing how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. Interesting, but useless. Just saying.

From the link above:

How to Weigh In
The Coast Guard is asking for public feedback before June 13, 2025. They’re especially interested in hearing from boaters who rely on specific buoys for navigation, fishing, or safe harbor approaches.

Submit comments by email only: [email protected]

Be sure to include:
• The size and type of your vessel
• How you use specific buoys for navigation
• The distance at which you begin looking for or relying on each aid

You can also view the Coast Guard’s official summary at www.bit.ly/D1Buoy

[Ixneigh]

Well. As much as I would like to blame this on a certain Shiba Inu obsessed billionaire, it may actually come down to safety.
Hear me out.
If there’s no big steel marker and you’re moving at five knots, probably the worst that will happen is you run aground. But if there is a marker, and you hit that sucker at nearly fifty knots, someone’s gonna die. I see an awful lot of people doing fifty knots in big huge 30-40 ft open fishermen, in all conditions. Daytime, nighttime, rain, windy. These boats are so heavy and so powerful with three, four, FIVE big outboards on them, that people are no longer forced to flow down since the boat will just go though pretty much any inshore wave action. One lapse of attention, boom! I hit one at four knots. It happens. I knew where I was, I knew there were markers. I was just distracted and, the jib hid the marker from view. They could remove probably two markers from that area, and it wouldn’t be any less difficult. Just two less things for excessively powered weekend warriors to hit.

Ix

[Be Free]

I just went out and looked at all of the proposed changes in Florida (at least I think I found them all) and all of the proposed changes look reasonable to me. In Florida it's not a wholesale removal of aids to navigation, it is a removal of one marker that I (and probably Herschel) know to be dangerous and pretty much useless. That marker has been a hazard since I was in high school. The rest are either slightly repositioning markers or replacing daybeacons with lighted aids.

I have made extensive comments on other proposed changes in the past and I've found the USCG to be open and reasonable to the concerns of local boaters. They do listen. I recall one case where their final decision (which was different from their initial position) quoted portions of my comments verbatim.

If you are concerned about specific changes in your district the proposals are open for comment. A generic comment like, "I don't think it's a good idea to make any changes in Younameit Bay" probably won't make a difference since they have already decided it is a good idea to make the changes (as evidenced by their request for comments) and absent a cogent argument they will always choose their opinion over yours. You have to give a clear, reasoned argument why these specific changes in this specific area are a bad idea.

Quoting from the original article:

The Coast Guard emphasizes that physical aids to navigation will continue to play a critical role, especially when technology fails or conditions make electronic screens hard to interpret.

“This proposal supports waterway safety by ensuring the right short-range aids work well with modern navigation technology,” said Matthew Stuck, Chief of Waterways Management for the First Coast Guard District. “A sustainable buoy system ensures safety and efficiency, even during disruptions or technology failures.”

[Herschel]

I just went out and looked at all of the proposed changes in Florida (at least I think I found them all) and all of the proposed changes look reasonable to me. In Florida it's not a wholesale removal of aids to navigation, it is a removal of one marker that I (and probably Herschel) know to be dangerous and pretty much useless. That marker has been a hazard since I was in high school. The rest are either slightly repositioning markers or replacing daybeacons with lighted aids.

I have made extensive comments on other proposed changes in the past and I've found the USCG to be open and reasonable to the concerns of local boaters. They do listen. I recall one case where their final decision (which was different from their initial position) quoted portions of my comments verbatim.

If you are concerned about specific changes in your district the proposals are open for comment. A generic comment like, "I don't think it's a good idea to make any changes in Younameit Bay" probably won't make a difference since they have already decided it is a good idea to make the changes (as evidenced by their request for comments) and absent a cogent argument they will always choose their opinion over yours. You have to give a clear, reasoned argument why these specific changes in this specific area are a bad idea.

Quoting from the original article:

The Coast Guard emphasizes that physical aids to navigation will continue to play a critical role, especially when technology fails or conditions make electronic screens hard to interpret.

“This proposal supports waterway safety by ensuring the right short-range aids work well with modern navigation technology,” said Matthew Stuck, Chief of Waterways Management for the First Coast Guard District. “A sustainable buoy system ensures safety and efficiency, even during disruptions or technology failures.”

OK, Bill, you have my attention. Which marker are you thinking of? #1 going into Lake Monroe from under the I-4 bridge. Someone took it out (hit it and knocked it out I think) a few months ago. The post has been replaced with a floating buoy. A stump of the channel marker post is all that remains. Replacement buoy looks temporary.

[Be Free]

Daybeacon 95 at the Wekiva River cutoff.