Coast Guard Seeks Feedback On Local Buoys To Be Removed
The U.S. Coast Guard is currently seeking feedback on a controversial plan to scrap 350 aids to navigation across the northeast, including several on the East End of Long Island.
The project, known as the Coastal Buoy Modernization Initiative, “proposes removal of a select number of buoys identified as having minimal system value in non-critical waterways,” according to the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, which posted a link to the Coast Guard’s map of buoys to be discontinued on its Facebook page May 7. “This initiative will result in the most sustainable navigation risk reduction to support and complement modern technology, electronic chart system availability and requirements, and electronic navigation accessibility to virtually all waterway users.”
Comments will be accepted through June 13, 2025 via email at D01-SMB-DPWPublicComments@uscg.mil, and must include the project number: 01-25-015.
“To most effectively consider your feedback and improve the data collection, when responding to this proposal, please include size and type of your vessel, recreational or commercial, how you use the signal to navigate, and distance at which you start looking for and utilizing it,” says the Coast Guard.
Here’s the map of proposed buoys to be removed.
While no buoys in the western Peconics are affected by the proposal, areas east of Shelter Island are. The Three Mile Harbor entrance lighted bell buoy TM, the Shelter Island Sound north channel lighted whistle buoy N, the Gardiners Bay south entrance lighted bell buoy S, the Montauk Harbor entrance lighted bell buoy M, buoys at Shagwong and Blackfish rocks in Montauk and the Gardiners Island Shoal Buoy 1 are on the chopping block.
Most of the buoys between Montauk and Block Island are also slated for removal, including those at Endeavor Shoals, Southwest Ledge, Block Island Sound South Entrance Obstruction, and Black Rock Point, Dickens Point and the Block Island Old Harbor Channel Lighted Bell Buoy 1.
The Plum Island lighted whistle buoy PI and Bartlett Reef Lighted Buoy 4 north of Plum Island and Old Silas Rock Buoy 1 east of Plum Island are slated for removal, along with Race Point Buoy 2 and the Silver Eel Pond Entrance buoy SE on the west side of Fishers Island and the Wicopesset passage, ledge and rock buoys, and the Lords and Catumb passage buoys on the east side of Fishers Island.
The Mattituck Gong Buoy 3A in the Long Island Sound and the Shinnecock Inlet Approach Lighted Whistle Buoy SH in the Atlantic Ocean are also expected to be removed.
The responses on the local Coast Guard’s Facebook page have been withering, and mariners from Maine to Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been blasting the proposal.
“It’s almost like an AI came up with it. The old school instructional books and manuals ALWAYS warn to not rely on electronics exclusively and always check against the charts, said Serge Leon on Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound’s Facebook. “Coast Guard themselves advise people to update the charts. Buoys should always be located to ensure your GPS is not wonky. Removing the one at Race Point is crazy, probably the sketchiest spot on the Sound.”
“The amount and type of vessels in the eastern end of Fishers Island Sound, along with potentially disorienting currents due to tidal conditions, makes removing any aids to navigation a serious risk,” said Mike Hanna. “Historically, the locations of those buoys were not selected at random. Reducing the density of them would unnecessarily reduce the means by which small vessels orient themselves around the east end of Fishers Island and Little Narragansett Bay. These markers represent a significant passive navigation aid for the high volume of pleasure craft which use these bodies of water much more like large lakes than ocean-adjacent tidal waters. Consider them a safety net.”
“I guarantee you the first guy who runs his boat aground on Bartletts reef is going to sue you guys,” said Austin Geist. “Not sure of who thought of this. The lawsuits are going to outweigh the costs to maintain the buoys. Those buoys are there for a reason.”
“I have a 36’ sailboat and I use visual navigation aids all the time,” said James Inslee. “Sometimes the GPS gets a glitch and I can double check against the visual markers. These navigation aids are even more important to me at night. Removing visual navigation aids is a stupid idea. Many people do not use modern electronics during their boating activities.”
This is just the first of the Coast Guard’s three planned efforts to modernize and reduce the number of buoys it maintains, says U.S. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who on May 13 urged his constituents to weigh in on the plan. He added that “two other plans identify shallow water and harbor buoys that the Coast Guard is considering for discontinuation.”
The Coast Guard reminds mariners that their comments will only be entered into the official record if they are emailed to D01-SMB-DPWPublicComments@uscg.mil.
