UPDATE 10.24.25: After 3,200 comments from harbormasters, pilot associations, ship captains, and other concerned ocean-goers, the Coast Guard has decided to cancel its removal of navigational buoys in New England. Marilyn Schairer reports for GBH:
Mariners across New England are elated with the decision by the United States Coast Guard to abandon plans to remove navigational buoys from Northeast waterways. The plan was meant to support modern navigational systems, such as GPS equipment and other digital tools, but it received a flood of criticism from harbormasters, pilot associations and ship captains.
The United State Coast Guard Northeast District said yesterday it received more than 3,200 comments to the Coastal Buoy Modernization Proposal and as a result “there will be no changes to the aides to navigation system (ATON) at this time until further analysis is complete.”
Captain Bob Blair has been a state pilot in Massachusetts for 43 years. He said he wasn’t surprised the agency is abandoning the plan based on the negative comments from people in the maritime industry.
“We’re responsible for guiding ships in and out safely,” Blair said.
When the federal agency first proposed its plan in early 2025, the idea was to remove 350 navigational aids and it sought input from local mariners. There are 5,600 navigational aids in the Northeast district: that includes buoys, lights, day beacons all along the shoreline from the Canadian border to northern New Jersey.
Originally posted August 25, 2025.
Your Survival Guy has been stuck in the fog enough times to know the importance of navigational beacons, and I’m not a fan of the plan to remove a number of them. You never know when technology or electronics will fail, and having a backup is always a good idea, especially at sea. Jenna Russell reports in The New York Times:
When the electrical system on Dominic Zanke’s 42-foot fishing boat, Tyrant, suddenly failed one day this spring, the veteran lobsterman was 35 miles out to sea, with no radio or radar to guide him home.
Mr. Zanke, who fishes out of Stonington, Maine, saw little cause for worry. He knew he could rely on an old-school fallback: the sprawling network of Coast Guard navigational buoys that dot the coastline from Maine to New Jersey. Generations of fishermen, ferry captains and recreational boaters have taken comfort in knowing that if all else fails, the buoys will be there.
In recent months, though, that faith has been shaken by a Coast Guard proposal to do away with roughly 350 buoys, a winnowing the agency says makes sense given decades of advancement in electronic tools for navigation.
To some who have used the buoys to skirt disaster on foggy shoals and in narrow channels rocked by squalls, the plan to remove them feels like a betrayal.
“What is the value of a life at sea?” said Jon Wilson, an elder statesman of Maine’s sailing community and the founder of WoodenBoat magazine. “There were marine accidents that made people say, ‘We need a buoy here.’ There’s a genius to the system, and it has worked for a reason.”
Action Line: The best defense against getting lost is prior planning. This works for sailing as well as investing. When you want to talk about an investment plan, email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
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