First Coast Guard District
W/W’s 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.
W/W’s 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.
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.
Aids to Navigation
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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
AtoN/Domice Resources
 560 Personnel
6
Tenders
 10 ANTs
4
Icebreakers
8
Harbor Tugs
District AtoN Cutters
2 WLB’S (225’)
4 WTGB’S (140’)
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WILLOW
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JUNIPER
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4 WLM’S (175’)
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ABBIE BURGESS
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MARCUS HANNA
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IDA LEWIS
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KATHERINE WALKER
THUNDER BAY
STURGEON BAY
 PENOBSCOT BAY
 MORRO BAY
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8 WYTL’S (65’)
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BRIDLE
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TACKLE
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SHACKLE
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WIRE
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LINE
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HAWSER
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BOLLARD
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PENDANT
Maine AtoN/DOMICE
Units
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ANT Southwest Harbor
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ANT Portland
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ABBIE BURGESS
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MARCUS HANNA
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BRIDLE
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TACKLE
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SHACKLE
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THUNDER BAY
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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
Domestic Ice Operations
Ice Season: Typically 15 December to 31 March
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D1(dpw) - Policy and asset management
Ice Reporting – Web based system allows field level input of ice
conditions, commerce data and asset employment.
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Track HHO stocks in New England and NY/NJ
Icebreaking priorities –
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Heating oil/fuel
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Ferries carrying passengers
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General cargo
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Fishing vessels
Waterways
Management
Responsibilities
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Waterways Analysis & Management
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663 waterways, of which 161 are critical
and 502 are non-critical
98 WAMS studies performed over a 5year 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.)
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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.
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Wreck
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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
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Biennial publication.
Supplements the Local Notice to Mariners.
Contains significant safety and navigational information
for mariners, as well as essential information on:
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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
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. 95474, 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.
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.