Coast Guard Shelves Buoy Plan, For Now

CHATHAM – Having received a barrage of public opposition, the Coast Guard is shelving plans to remove a number of navigational buoys around the region as part of a modernization effort.

 On Oct. 21, Capt. David O’Connell, the Coast Guard’s regional chief of prevention, issued a notice announcing that the project has been suspended pending further analysis.

 “The Coast Guard is extremely appreciative of the maritime public’s significant engagement,” O’Connell wrote. “After receiving over 3,170 informative comments, the Coast Guard finds it necessary to conduct further analysis of the aids to navigation (ATON) system while ensuring port security, response to contingencies, and the safe and efficient flow of commerce.” 

The plan called for the removal of the "C" buoy, a large lighted whistle buoy near the Chatham Harbor entrance; the SH lighted bell buoy marking the entrance to Stage Harbor; Pollock Rip lighted buoy number eight south of Monomoy Point; and bell buoy number 3, known as the Nor'west Buoy, at Chatham Roads.

In Chatham alone, the town's harbormaster, waterways advisory committee and working waterfront advisory committee all wrote letters opposing the plan, and the select board followed suit. There was a similar outpouring of concern from other Cape communities and coastal towns around the region. In June, U.S. Senators from New England states signed a letter urging the Coast Guard to slow the plan and to share the data it is using to justify it.

Chatham Harbormaster Jason Holm said it’s wise for the Coast Guard to reassess its plans. While they made it clear that the effort was in the interest of modernization, the Coast Guard didn’t provide an explanation for the removal of specific buoys.

 “Without hearing any reasoning behind them, a prudent mariner, especially from a local standpoint,” is bound to oppose such a plan, he said. It is likely that the service will eventually return with a new plan for paring down its roster of navigational aids, and Holm said he hopes they are able to provide detailed justification for each planned removal.

 “I don’t think this is going to be the last that we’re going to see of these kinds of proposals,” he said. It was clear in this case that active engagement by town governments, elected officials and mariners was the key in holding off the Coast Guard’s plan.

 “Absolutely. I think it was a commendable job by the waterways users, not only in Chatham but all over New England,” Holm said. “Your voice was heard.”

The Coast Guard’s aids to navigation “are critical to protecting our ports, ensuring safe navigation, and promoting a strong economy, and to facilitating $5.4 trillion in maritime commerce and ensuring safe navigation and shipping, economic prosperity and strategic mobility,” O’Connell wrote. The service had argued that the widespread use of GPS and other electronic aids have made buoys and other navigational aids less necessary, a point that mariners contested.

Is it possible that Chatham’s most visible aid to navigation – the Chatham lighthouse – might one day be deemed obsolete? 

 “It’s still used” despite the prevalence of high-tech navigational tools, Holm said. As a fixed beacon, it is arguably more valuable than a buoy that can be occasionally washed off station. “How many people use it frequently? I couldn’t begin to tell you,” he said.

For the foreseeable future, Chatham Light will remain a relevant navigational tool, Coast Guard Station Chatham commanding officer Senior Chief Petty Officer Ross Comstock said. 

A modern replacement beacon for the light is on hand in Woods Hole and teams are preparing to install it sometime over the winter, he said. 

 “Separately, there is a rehabilitation project in the works to give the lighthouse a total facelift that should see workers on site within the next few months,” Comstock said. “These two projects combined will bring the light up to a 21st century condition ensuring its relevance and reliability for decades to come.” 

The Coast Guard owns and manages Chatham Light and Long Point Light in Provincetown. Other Cape Cod lighthouses remain active aids to navigation but are privately owned. Nauset Light in Eastham and Highland Light in North Truro are owned by the Cape Cod National Seashore and supported by nonprofit partners; Nobska Point Light in Woods Hole is licensed to the town of Falmouth and managed by a nonprofit friends’ group. It’s not impossible that Chatham Light could someday be privatized.

 “Any aid like that’s expensive. I’m sure they’d take a look at it at some point,” said Holm, a Coast Guard veteran. “But aside from its navigational value, it’s also a nostalgic beacon and part of the fabric of this community.”