In an apparent attempt to save money, the United States Coast Guard has proposed making Long Island and New England coastal waters less safe. While the idea to eliminate about 350 navigational buoys was recently put on hold, the risk remains that the Coast Guard will go through with its plan. Among the buoys slated for decommissioning were ones marking the entrance to Lake Montauk, Three Mile Harbor, and Gardiner’s Bay. The Coast Guard’s argument is that modern GPS devices have made real-world aids to navigation obsolete.
The thing is that in the real world, chart-plotters and other equipment do not always work. Boat wiring is notoriously fussy, which is why boaters are encouraged to carry paper charts as a backup at all times. Moreover, not everyone who takes to the water has a navigation system aboard; smartphones are not considered an adequate substitute. Removing key location buoys would compound an existing problem of boaters not paying attention because of an excessive belief in the infallibility of their electronics. Reducing safety assets at sea makes no sense that we can see.
Since mariners first began to venture far from shore, knowing where you are on the water has been fundamental. While GPS coordinates from phones can guide the Coast Guard and Marine Patrol to an emergency, the big bell buoys slated for removal provide instant location information that dispatchers can relay to responders. Like the numbered beach markers put up in East Hampton Town, buoys provide an extra level of security. Boaters cruising in unfamiliar places often confirm what their chart-plotters say with what is called a fix; land can be deceptive, buoys much less so since they are marked with numbers that correspond to both paper charts and electronic map data.
It is hard to believe that the Coast Guard leadership would actually want to set navigation back to the pre-electronic era when mariners threw lead lines overboard tipped with a bit of tallow to determine the composition of the sea bottom for a vague sense of where they might be. But that is exactly what it appears they hope to do. The amount of savings removing buoys would represent is far outweighed by the irreplaceable service they provide. By this logic, they might as well turn off the Montauk Light.
A second round of public comment on the buoy plans will be announced this fall. Boaters should pay careful attention.