First Coast Guard District W/W

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First Coast Guard District W/Ws Mgmt AtoN

• Short-range aids to navigation (AtoN) are
  established to
• assist the mariner in transiting an area safely
  and
• efficiently, while avoiding groundings,
  obstructions
• to navigation, and collisions with other vessels.
• Used in conjunction with nautical charts, these
• aids to navigation provide mariners with visual
• directions to guide them away from dangers by
• marking channels, shoals, and hazards. For the
• majority of mariners, harbor navigation is a
  visual
• activity.

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W/Ws MGMT AtoN

• Mariners use the terrain and man-made and natural
• features for visual references in determining
  their general
• location and course. Coast Guard provided AtoN
  such as
• buoys and beacons are used for more precise
  visual
• navigation. Much of the art of harbor navigation
  involves
• using visual cues to determine drift off desired
  track caused
• by wind and current, and compensating for that
  drift. Many
• factors such as depth of water, bottom
  composition, tides
• and currents, width of the waterway, and size and
  types of
• vessels (naval, commercial, recreational) using a
  waterway
• are considered when establishing aids to
  navigation. In
• properly establishing aids to navigation, the
  requirements
• of all mariners using a waterway are considered.

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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.

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Aids to Navigation

• 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

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AtoN/Domice Resources

• 560 Personnel
• 6 Tenders
• 10 ANTs
• 4 Icebreakers
• 8 Harbor Tugs

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District AtoN Cutters

• 4 WTGBS (140)
• THUNDER BAY
• STURGEON BAY
• PENOBSCOT BAY
• MORRO BAY
• 8 WYTLS (65)
• BRIDLE
• TACKLE
• SHACKLE
• WIRE
• LINE
• HAWSER
• BOLLARD
• PENDANT

• 2 WLBS (225)
• WILLOW
• JUNIPER
• 4 WLMS (175)
• ABBIE BURGESS
• MARCUS HANNA
• IDA LEWIS
• KATHERINE WALKER

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Maine AtoN/DOMICE Units

• ANT Southwest Harbor
• ANT Portland
• ABBIE BURGESS
• MARCUS HANNA
• BRIDLE
• TACKLE
• SHACKLE
• THUNDER BAY
• WILLOW

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Waterways Mgmt/Aids to Navigation Branch

• 11 Staff personnel manning
• AtoN
• W/Ws Mgmt and Marine Information
• Domestic Ice Operations
• Private AtoN
• Liaison to Hbrmstr Associations

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Domestic Ice Operations

• 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

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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.

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Waterways Mgmt Cont

• Responsibilities (cont.)
• Traffic Sep. Schemes/ Port Access Studies
• Casco Bay Deep Draft Route
• Ports 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

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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

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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 BNMs for any aid
  establishment/disestablishment (permanent/temporar
  y) any aid characteristic change
  (permanent/temporary) whale sightings all class
  A AtoN discreps all aid relocations
  FIREX/GUNNEX/NOTAMS some dredging/blasting/drilli
  ng and misc. marine events

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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
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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.

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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 

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Authority

• 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.

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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.

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Special Anchorage Areas Cont

• 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.