ATTENTION BOATERS!
The United States Coast Guard First District has released an initiative proposing the removal of hundreds of navigational buoys, or Aids to Navigation (ATONS). The 350 navigational aids currently under review are located along the Northern Atlantic Coast between the New York City metro area and the Maine-Canada border. This includes 38 ATONS in Rhode Island Waters.
https://uscg-marker-removals.webflow.io/
The purpose of these proposed removals is “modernizing and rightsizing the buoy constellation,” given that most current ATONS predate GPS and electronic charting technologies according to the Coast Guard. They assert that many of these buoys are no longer necessary and that fewer buoys to maintain will help reduce costs and divert maintenance efforts to the most critical buoys.
https://uscoastguard.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=55d241497a234707b4874d62401e8612
Interested mariners are strongly encouraged to comment on this in writing prior to June 13, 2025.
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. Please do not call the Coast Guard via telephone or other means, only written responses to this proposal will be accepted. Refer to Project No. 01-25-015. E-mail can be sent to: D01-SMB-DPWPublicComments@uscg.mil.