New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

A conversation among Whalers
porthole
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New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby porthole » Sun Mar 31, 2019 12:22 pm

[Pointed to a Facebook page that required some sort of log-in to see.]
Thanks,
Duane
2016 World Cat 230DC
1999 Outrage 21, Yamaha SW Series II 200
1997 Outrage 18, Yamaha 125
1983 15 SS, Honda 50
1980 42 Post
1983 34 Luhrs 340 SF

jimh
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby jimh » Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:23 am

Cannot see content on the linked page

rtk
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby rtk » Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:20 am

If you scroll down near the end of the fishing report [at https://fishinglbi.com/2019/03/31/fishing-report-update-march-30-2019/] a local Captain gives a heads up on some damaged channel markers.

These fixed channel markers appeared to me to be quite robust from passing them on the water. I'm really surprised that ice would do that much damage- We had a pretty mild winter here.

PORTHOLE--Thanks for the heads-up.

There is or was a lot of bridge construction going on there last fall, and that area is a very shallow portion of the bay. Caution should be used by all who navigate the area.

Rich

porthole
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby porthole » Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:44 am

I will work or copying the info over.

It is my understanding that it was not ice flows that caused the problem, rather the use of limited or unprotected steel piling in a saltwater environment.
Thanks,
Duane
2016 World Cat 230DC
1999 Outrage 21, Yamaha SW Series II 200
1997 Outrage 18, Yamaha 125
1983 15 SS, Honda 50
1980 42 Post
1983 34 Luhrs 340 SF

jimh
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:52 am

I am looking forward to finding out about the hazard. Usually a hazard to navigation is made public by the USCG in a posting in the Notice to Mariners.

NOTE: Links to resources provided by other websites that require the user to authenticate with the other website before being able to view the information contained in the linked resource are not particularly useful links. It is not reasonable to expect that everyone will have permission to view the information without some sort of authentication or registration. Information that is protected by authentication challenges is information that does not want to be known to all.

rtk
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby rtk » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:10 am

This topic was also posted on a local fishing website forum that does require a password. It appears that there is not an actual/official Notice to Mariners that is issued by the United State Coast Guard. It is a local effort by Captains and marina owners to notify those who navigate this portion of Barnegat Bay of a hazard that is not being addressed in the form of a repair/removal/replacement of the channel markers.

Last fall I was running my boat in this area and noticed a snapped off fixed metal piling channel marker. It was quite rusted and deteriorated. I found it a bit bizarre that a repair would not have been made in a quick manner given the boat traffic in this area. This is part of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway

There is quite a bit of local frustration, in general, with the quality of the maintenance and marking of navigation channels in Barnegat Bay and Barnegat Inlet. It is a very busy boating area- commercial and recreational. I do not disagree that the State of New Jersey and the United States could put quite a bit more effort in maintaining and marking these crucial navigation passages.

It's an annual battle to even get minimal work done in this area to keep a basic level of boating access to Barnegat Inlet.

Rich

jimh
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:53 am

I agree with the frustration of damaging your boat by running into a partially submerged aid to navigation that has become a hazard to navigation, and not having a floating aid to navigation--at the least--marking the hazard, and not having any official notice of it in Notice to Mariners, and not being able to find information about it without having to become registered and authenticated on some privately run website.

jimh
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay ATON hazards.

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:54 am

I agree with the frustration of damaging your boat by running into a partially submerged aid to navigation that has become a hazard to navigation, and not having a floating aid to navigation--at the least--marking the hazard, and not having any official notice of it in Notice to Mariners, and not being able to find information about it without having to become registered and authenticated on some privately run website.

The USCG must be too busy stopping recreational boaters to see if they have proper identification for all aboard--"Let me see your papers."

rtk
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay Damaged ATONs Become Hazards

Postby rtk » Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:16 am

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/23c3c50

The above links to a Coast Guard communication on this hazard. I believe this was just issued yesterday.

"Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Cape May has removed six of the original 26 aids which were damaged by ice, and currently our teams are in planning stages to remove the remaining 20.”


I guess we'll see if there is an immediate plan to address this or they will "kick the can down the road" and fix this when funds are available a few years from now. The cowardly politicians who are responsible for budgets seem to be hesitant to approve taxpayer funds for projects that provide services to boaters in these parts.

The USCG must be too busy stopping recreational boaters to see if they have proper identification for all aboard--"Let me see your papers."


I was warned a couple years back that during routine "safety stops" during daylight hours citations of some sort were being issued for non-functioning permanently mounted navigation lights. The bow light on my 1966 16 foot Boston Whaler does not work but I keep it mounted on the boat. I have a battery powered non-permanent navigation light system that I use for the very rare occasion that I am on the water at night.

The times that I have been "checked" by the New Jersey State Police or United States Coast Guard have been while I was actively fishing and I have never been officially subjected to the nonsense that I just mentioned. I have a significant problem with these random searches but I do have to say they were very professional and fairly non-invasive with the search. The primary interest was required safety gear, boat registration, fishing and boating licenses and the type and size of fish I may have harvested.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to get these channel markers fixed. Hope it receives the attention it deserves.

Rich

jimh
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Re: Appearance of WRECK BUOY

Postby jimh » Sat Apr 06, 2019 2:04 pm

The announcement says:

Twenty aids to navigation pylons...that were damaged by winter ice..have been marked with wreck buoys...


That is a good step. Now I have to look up the visual appearance of a "wreck" buoy.

I found this at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_wreck_buoy
wreckBuoy.png
Fig. 1. WRECK BUOY as described according to the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities
wreckBuoy.png (5.64 KiB) Viewed 8778 times


Is that the type of "wreck buoy" out there in Barnegat Bay?

And where did the USCG get 20 of these special buoys on short notice?

Or do the "wreck buoys" look more like this:

wreckBuoy.jpg
Fig. 2. WRECK BUOY as described in USCG literature.
wreckBuoy.jpg (40.71 KiB) Viewed 8776 times

Don SSDD
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Re: Appearance of WRECK BUOY

Postby Don SSDD » Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:05 am

I’ve seen the second buoys [perhaps as seen in Fig. 2. above--jimh] in use in the Atlantic Ocean for anything that is a hazard to navigation, including wrecks. They are used to mark hazards that are new and may not yet be on charts and I’ve seen them then added to charts if the hazard could not be removed. Were the original markers placed by USCG? Were they normal markers coded as channel markers?
1986 Outrage 18 with 2001 Honda 130 HP
Former Owner 1991 Guardian 19 with 1994 Evinrude V4 140HP
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Nova Scotia

rtk
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Re: New Jersey Barnegat Bay ATON hazards.

Postby rtk » Mon Apr 08, 2019 8:57 am

According to [the information found by following the URL below] the [Atlantic Intracoastal Water Way] channel is marked by the United States Coast Guard. The typical channel marker is a Dayboard.

http://www.atlanticintracoastalwaterway ... e-ICW.html

Dayboards are the most common navigational aid along the Waterway. Look for dayboards in three forms: mounted on a single piling, on a dolphin (a collection of strapped, teepee-like pilings), or on a larger piling structure. The type of mounting has no navigational significance.


It appears that the US Army Corps of Engineers also participates in the maintenance of this channel. See:

https://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Missions ... -waterway/

Rich