The U.S. Coast Guard recently replaced about 30 buoys near False Pass, just in time for the bulk of the region’s summer salmon vessel traffic.
Daniel Davis, chief of waterways management for the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said the organization partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to replace all 29 buoys that mark the waterway near False Pass and Bechevin Bay — a popular channel used to transit between the North Pacific and Bering Sea.
“They were also able to realign the channel a little bit to best mark the available water there for the mariners going through the pass,” Davis said.
He said NOAA used high definition, multi-beam sonar surveys to verify that the channel was clear of any sunken buoys that could cause damage to boats passing through.
That helped speed up the process significantly because they were able to get a clear image of the physical conditions of the environment, according to Dave Seris, who also works for the Coast Guard’s Waterways Management.
“It gives you almost like you took a picture with a camera of what's actually on the bottom,” Seris said. “So if there's a sunken buoy or a sinker, you know, from a mooring that parted, you can see that clear as a bell on the sea floor.”
Davis said they also used the surveys to modify the channel on the Bering side, off Cape Krenitzin.
“We did add an extra buoy to mark an emerging shoal that we had not previously seen before,” Davis said.
The updated buoys will help mariners navigate the shallow pass and breaking bar more safely.
The Coast Guard started the process to replace the buoys around the end of May and finished on June 6. According to Davis, only one of the 29 buoys was recovered and it was damaged so heavily it had to be replaced as well.
It’s not quite clear what caused all the damage, but it was likely due to unusually severe ice in the region this winter, combined with natural wear and tear on the moorings, according to Seris.
Some of the navigational aids have been replaced by temporary foam buoys. The Coast Guard plans to revisit the area later this month to install permanent steel markers.
The entire replacement is expected to cost about $800,000. A Coast Guard spokesperson said that is a long-term investment, as the buoys generally last about 30 years.
Davis said they will continue to recover lost buoys in the area. He asks that mariners notify the Coast Guard if they come across any beached or washed-up markers to help with the recovery process. The Coast Guard plans to retrieve those and return them to Ketchikan to be refurbished or recycled.
