The U.S. Coast Guard said it plans to discontinue 350 buoys across the coast of New England as part of efforts to modernize aids to navigation. Of the around 150 buoys proposed to be removed from Maine waters, 10 are around the Boothbay peninsula and surrounding areas. The Coast Guard is seeking public feedback.  

“The proposal aims to support waterway safety by ensuring the right short-range aids work well with modern navigation technology. Public comment about specific buoy use is essential,” Matthew Stuck, the First Coast Guard District’s chief of waterways management, said in a press release. “A sustainable buoy system ensures safety and efficiency, even during disruptions or technology failures, keeping commerce flowing smoothly ...”  

The Coast Guard said the current buoy system predates global satellite and other electronic navigation systems widely used by mariners. They added the changes are intended to deliver efficient, economical service to manage transit at an acceptable level of risk, better maintain the most critical buoys, and reduce discrepancies and electronic system failures.  

However, Boothbay Harbor Harbor Master Jeff Lowell called the project a bad idea and said the removals could cause a lot of confusion and “real problems.” He said many mariners use older charts and don’t buy new ones every year; so, when someone is out in the fog looking for a buoy, they might not find it.  

“It's a safety issue for everybody concerned,” Lowell said. “We're early in the process and I don't think we can jump up and down too much. We just got to stress that it's a bad idea and they should rethink it.” 

The Coast Guard said removing buoys is part of a long-term effort to determine sustainable navigational risk reduction tools to support mariners and electronic systems. According to the agency, the 350 buoys represent 6% of the 5,640 federally maintained aids to navigation.  

In Boothbay and surrounding areas, buoy locations include four in the Damariscotta River, one at Hyprocrite Ledge by Fisherman’s Passage, one by Damariscove Island, one by Cuckolds Light, one by Cape Island, one at the entrance to the Sheepscot River, and one east of New Harbor.  

Lowell said it is fortunate many of the buoys are offshore or don't mark a particular obstacle, but boaters still regularly use them. By Fishermen’s Passage, for example, he said a buoy sets a clear course in the middle of the channel.  

“All these buoys offshore lining you up in the river, we use them all the time,” he said. He later added, “The people who are on the water daily, the commercial guys and the active recreational people, just think it's a bad idea.” 

The Coast Guard said physical aids to the navigation network “will always complement electronic systems.” However, Lowell expressed concern because, he said, the two systems are cross-references and need to work together if one fails or the weather obstructs vision. 

“If you're on the water and you're a true mariner, you use your visuals and you use your electronics. You never rely on either one. You need both of them,” he said. “... You're constantly cross-referencing what's actually in front of you and what's on that electronic chart.” 

The Coast Guard requests feedback before June 13. Include the size and type of your vessel, how you use the buoys to navigate and the distance at which you start looking for and using it. Responses are only accepted by email at D01-SMB-DPWPublicComments@uscg.mil

An official proposed buoy change map and summary are at www.bit.ly/D1Buoy