Coast Guard Plan to Remove Buoys Worries Fishermen, Mariners
- Guest Writer
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
By Stephen Rappaport. First published in Working Waterfront
In an apparent effort to demonstrate that it takes the Trump administration’s war on “fraud, waste, and abuse” seriously, the U.S. Coast Guard plans to discontinue—remove—more than 150 buoys and other aids to navigation, such as fixed “daybeacons,” from Maine’s coastal waters.
Buoys slated to be removed in Maine. From webflow.io.
The Coast Guard’s stated rationale for the planned actions, according to a recent Notice to Mariners, is that it “will result in the most sustainable navigation risk reduction” while supporting “the navigational needs of the 21st century prudent mariner,” thanks to the widespread availability of electronic chart systems (ECS) and “powerful smartphone navigation subscription apps affordably accessible to virtually all waterway users.”
Mariners who spend their working lives on Maine’s waters think the Coast Guard is operating in the fog. “I think it’s kooky,” lobsterman Hilton Turner said on hearing of the plan. “Not all boats have electronics. A lot of recreational boats and kids starting out fishing in small boats don’t.”
Turner, who is president of the Downeast Lobstermen’s Association, has fished out of Stonington for decades. When he’s fishing in foggy conditions, he relies on several buoys the Coast Guard plans to axe. Many of those aids mark hazards in the treacherous waters of Jericho Bay and Merchant’s Row, and around Isle au Haut and Vinalhaven, all important lobster and scallop fishing areas. “I think it’s a poor practice,” he said.
Across Penobscot Bay, Capt. John Worth is equally concerned. Retired from Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) and a former owner of the Belfast tugboat fleet, Worth is a frequent relief captain for the Maine State Ferry Service, usually on the run between Rockland and North Haven.
He struggled for years to persuade the Coast Guard to restore a fixed day beacon on the hazard in Penobscot Bay called Drunkard Ledge, which was swept away in a storm. It marked an important turning point used by the ferries, particularly in heavy northeasterly winds.
Though the Drunkard Ledge beacon was eventually repaired, Worth said the Coast Guard told him it would no longer replace day beacons likely to be damaged in heavy weather because of budgetary constraints and a lack of personnel and equipment.
Like Turner, Worth takes a dim view of total reliance on electronic charts and navigation systems.
While both are valuable to the knowledgeable mariner, electronic charts may not be updated as frequently as necessary, electronics can fail, and mariners with their heads buried in the electronic navigation system may forget what Worth taught his MMA students was the most important element of navigation.
“I told my students to look out the window,” Worth said. “Visual [observation] tells you so much more than electronics alone.”
Jon Emerson of North Haven is worried about other aids to navigation, but his thoughts are much the same as Turner’s.
Retired after more than 50 years as a commercial fisherman, he used electronics—LORAN navigation—on his boats long before the development of GPS (global positioning system) receivers and appreciates their value. But he is against the Coast Guard’s plan to eliminate so many physical aids to navigation. “The overall issue,” he said, “is it’s where money and safety collide.”
The Coast Guard is asking mariners for feedback on its plan for specific aids before June 13, including: the size and type of the vessel the commenter operates; how they use the buoys to navigate; and the distance from the buoy at which they start looking for it.
For a list of harbors slated for removal: www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/lnms/LNM01162025.pdf.
For an unofficial interactive map of the areas slated for removal:
Deadline for comments is June 13.
Comments on how these removals could impact safety, access, and local knowledge can be made by emailing the Coast Guard:
Be sure to include:
Reference to Project No. 01-25-015
Your role on the water
The size of your vessel
How the aid supports navigation
Why you are concerned
.
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