First Coast Guard District W/W’s Mgmt & AtoN

Short-range aids to navigation (AtoN) are established toassist the mariner in transiting an area safely andefficiently, while avoiding groundings, obstructionsto navigation, and collisions with other vessels.Used in conjunction with nautical charts, theseaids to navigation provide mariners with visualdirections to guide them away from dangers bymarking channels, shoals, and hazards. For themajority of mariners, harbor navigation is a visualactivity.

W/W’s MGMT & AtoN W/W’s MGMT & AtoN

Mariners use the terrain and man-made and naturalfeatures for visual references in determining their generallocation and course. Coast Guard provided AtoN such asbuoys and beacons are used for more precise visualnavigation. Much of the art of harbor navigation involvesusing visual cues to determine drift off desired track causedby wind and current, and compensating for that drift. Manyfactors such as depth of water, bottom composition, tidesand currents, width of the waterway, and size and types ofvessels (naval, commercial, recreational) using a waterwayare considered when establishing aids to navigation. Inproperly establishing aids to navigation, the requirementsof all mariners using a waterway are considered.

Critical Process Objective and Responsibilities

General AtoN Activities: • Design and establish.• Maintain and review.• Correct discrepancies.• Manage information (Data Base)Objective:• The objective of AtoN activities is a concept called Left

Watching Properly (LWP). • LWP is the right signal, on the right station, with the right

equipment, and supported by the right information. This is not an isolated process; Coast Guard & Mariners must participate in addressing this customer-oriented result.

619 Lights 1,219 Lighted Buoys 3,551 Unlighted Buoys 279 Daybeacons 1 Fog Signal Station 5,669 Federal Aids 4,073 Private Aids

= 9742 Total aids

Aids to Navigation

AtoN/Domice Resources

560 Personnel

6 Tenders

10 ANTs

4 Icebreakers

8 Harbor Tugs

2 WLB’S (225’) WILLOW JUNIPER

4 WLM’S (175’) ABBIE BURGESS MARCUS HANNA IDA LEWIS KATHERINE WALKER

District AtoN Cutters

4 WTGB’S (140’) THUNDER BAY STURGEON BAY PENOBSCOT BAY MORRO BAY

8 WYTL’S (65’) BRIDLE TACKLE SHACKLE WIRE LINE HAWSER BOLLARD PENDANT

Maine AtoN/DOMICE Units

ANT Southwest Harbor

ANT Portland

ABBIE BURGESS

MARCUS HANNA

BRIDLE

TACKLE

SHACKLE

THUNDER BAY

WILLOW

Waterways Mgmt/Aids to Navigation Branch

11 Staff personnel manning

• AtoN• W/W’s Mgmt and Marine

Information• Domestic Ice Operations• Private AtoN• Liaison to Hbrmstr

Associations

Ice Season: Typically 15 December to 31 March D1(dpw) - Policy and asset management

Ice Reporting – Web based system allows field level input of ice conditions, commerce data and asset employment.

Track HHO stocks in New England and NY/NJ

Icebreaking priorities –Heating oil/fuel

Ferries carrying passengers

General cargo

Fishing vessels

Domestic Ice Operations

WaterwaysManagement

Responsibilities Waterways Analysis & Management

663 waterways, of which 161 are critical and 502 are non-critical

98 WAMS studies performed over a 5-year cycle.

USACE Liaison for Waterway Safety Primarily dredging issues and hazard to

navigation determination Regular maintenance dredging and

deepening projects.

Waterways Mgmt Con’t

Responsibilities (cont.) Traffic Sep. Schemes/ Port Access Studies

Casco Bay Deep Draft RoutePorts and Waterways Safety Act (PWSA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1221, 1223 & 1225 et seq.

Anchorage Area Mgmt The Coast Guard has Authority under 33CFR 109; 110 to Establish Anchorage Grounds or Special Anchorage Areas.

Wreck Management NOAA Liaison for Surveys/Chart

Corrections

.Marine Information (MI)

• The purpose of MI as a contribution to the Federal system of intervention is to improve the predictability of factors affecting transits on waterways. AtoN and MI work together. MI takes the form of:

• Broadcast Notices to Mariners (BNM)• Local Notice to Mariners (LNM)• Light Lists• Coast Pilots• Other MI publications (Special)• Official Hydrographic Office Charts

Broadcast Notice to Mariners

• The CG is the National Coordinator for the Marine Information Broadcast (MIB) Program. Includes, but is not limited to, information regarding AtoN, weather,

military exercises, marine obstructions, ice reports, changes in channel conditions, and important bridge information.

• BNM's are not intended to be the source of chart corrections, but rather to inform the mariner of important changes affecting the safety of navigation.

• BNM's are issued via VOICE, HF TELEX, FACSIMILE, and NAVTEX.• Specifically CG Issues BNM’s for any aid establishment/disestablishment

(permanent/temporary); any aid characteristic change (permanent/temporary); whale sightings; all class A AtoN discreps; all aid relocations; FIREX/GUNNEX/NOTAMS; some dredging/blasting/drilling; and misc. marine events

Broadcast Notice to Mariners

VHF-FM voice BNM's Will contain all info that applies to inland waters and seaward to 20 NM.

MF voice BNM's Duplicate the VHF-FM BNM's, less the Intracoastal Waterway, and

additionally cover waters out to 100 NM. Include offshore and high seas weather forecasts and warnings. These

BNM's don't normally include navigational info unless required by the Area Commander.

HF voice BNM's NAVTEX

Contain nav warnings, meteorological and SAR info that applies to waters from the line of demarcation to 200 NM offshore. Include nav info that affects the safety of navigation of deep draft (15ft or more) vessels within US Inland Rules waters.

Local Notice to Mariners

Who we serve The total number of registered, U.S. documented and

unregistered recreational craft in the Northeast has been estimated a 1.9 million.

Published Weekly; issued with all current information that is pertinent to the mariner.

The LNM is posted on the Coast Guards Navcen website (www.navcen.uscg.gov) which receives about 5.4 million visitors a year.

THERE ARE NO MORE PAPER COPIES MAILED OUT TO THE MARINER.

It is very important that you review the LNM.

Special Notice to Mariners

• Biennial publication.• Supplements the Local Notice to Mariners.• Contains significant safety and navigational information

for mariners, as well as essential information on: Emergency Procedures Commercial Vessels Communications Environmental Protection Law Enforcement

• Published on the Navcen website.

Private Aid Program Management

All aids are assigned a classification: (33 CFR 66.01-15) Class I – Are those aids or marine structures which

the owners are legally obligated to establish, maintain, and operate as prescribed by the Coast Guard.

Class II – Are those aids exclusive of Class I that are located in waters used by general navigation.

Class III - Are those aids exclusive of Class I that are located in waters not ordinarily used by general navigation.

Paton Inspection Process

D1 Paton Manager creates Paton Aid Assignment list

Aid Assignment list e-mailed to appropriate ANT team

Ant team assigns CG Auxiliary Aid Verifiers with

work list consisting of class II or III for

inspection/verification

Ant/AUX inputs inspection results into ATONIS

Discrepancy list e-mailed to D1 for BNM/LNM

CFR 33, 62.35 Mooring Buoys

Mooring buoys are white with a blue

horizontal band. This distinctive color

scheme is Recommended to facilitate

identification and to avoid confusion with

aids to navigation.

Anchorage Administration • The Coast Guard establishes various types of anchorages as part of

the overall U.S. vessel traffic management system, which aids and assists mariners in their efforts to navigate their vessels safely. 

• This Section contains:  • Authority• Definitions• Enforcement• Other Considerations • References:• 33 CFR Parts 1, 110 including Subparts A and B, 166• 33 USC 471, Rivers and Harbor Act• 33 USC 2030, 2035• 49 CFR Part 1• PL 95-474, 33 USC 1223, PSWA (Ports and Waterways Safety Act

of 1972)• Inland Navigation Rules 30 and 35 

• Under the River and Harbor Act of 4 March 1915 (33 USC 471), anchorage grounds may be established by the SECDHS for vessels in navigable waters of the United States whenever it is apparent at these anchorage grounds are required by the maritime or commercial interests of the United States for safe navigation.

• Under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act (PWSA)(P.L. 95-474, 33 U.S.C. 1223(c)) and the Magnuson Act (50 U.S.C. 191), the SECDHS may designate offshore anchorage areas for vessels in navigable waters of the United States (in the 3 – 12 nautical miles belt of the territorial sea) whenever it is apparent these vessels present either a safety or security risk to themselves, other vessels or the ports, harbors or facilities located therein.

Authority

Establishment of Special Anchorage Areas

• An Act of Congress dated 22 April 1940 authorizes that special anchorage areas may be designated by the SECDHS for vessels in navigable waters of the United States whenever it is apparent that these special anchorage areas are required by the maritime or commercial interests of the United States for safe navigation.

Special Anchorage Areas Con’t

• Those areas established by the District Commander under the authority of 33 USC 2030(g) or 2035(j). Regulations pertaining to special anchorage areas are found in 33 CFR 110 Subpart A.

• Vessels not more than 65 feet (less than 20 meters) in length anchored in a special anchorage area are not required to exhibit anchor lights or shapes nor sound signals (see Inland Navigation Rules 30 and 35).

• If new special anchorage areas need establishing or if existing anchorage areas need amending, then the applicable regulations will be created or amended by the District Commander per the rulemaking process.