There’s nothing that can replace the sound of the bell if you are lost in the fog. Westport can become extremely foggy. It does seem kind of old school in today’s world, but it’s important.”

— Chris Leonard, Westport's director of marine services

Westport mariners helped stop a similar plan nine years ago. Now, the United States Coast Guard is again proposing the removal of Westport Harbor Approach Lighted Bell Buoy 1, which lies between The Knubble and Gooseberry Island, just southeast of Two Mile Rock.

Citing the cost of maintenance and the growth of GPS-based positioning technology, Coast Guard officials have proposed removing it and approximately 350 other navigational aids up and down the northeastern seaboard, from Maine to New York. Members of the public have until mid-June to comment on the proposal.

Buoy 1 is well-known to everyone who has sailed into and out of the harbor, though the one currently in place has only been there about nine years — it replaced a larger, red and white buoy removed by the Coast Guard in 2016.

Nine years ago, when the red and white buoy's removal was first proposed mostly for cost of maintenance reasons, Westport residents responded strongly in favor of keeping it and while they did not technically succeed, the Coast Guard compromised — officials pulled the large, 26,000-pound red and white can, and replaced it with the green can currently in place, and which is now proposed for removal. 

Nearly 600 Westport residents wrote letters opposing the plan back then and marine services director Chris Leonard expects a town response this time as well. While he understands the Coast Guard’s reasoning behind the removal of many of the buoys, “it’s hard to have blind faith in technology."

“There’s nothing that can replace the sound of the bell if you are lost in the fog,” he said. “Westport can become extremely foggy. It does seem kind of old school in today’s world, but it’s important.”

The light is critical as well, some said at the time of the original removal plan nine years ago.

Among Westport’s worst marine tragedies was the loss of the fishing boat Atlantic Sword in the 1970s, with three men aboard. Nobody knows what happened to the boat, which was lost in the vicinity of the buoy one January night — the buoy’s light was out that night, former longtime Westport Harbormaster Richie Earle said at the time. Only pieces of the boat were ever found.

Matthew Stuck, the Coast Guard’s first district chief of waterways management, said the latest proposal comes as the USCG works to "rightsize" its navigational aids, many of which predate GPS technology.

Removing navigational aids no longer deemed necessary, he wrote in a Coast Guard notice, "will result in the most sustainable navigation risk reduction to support and complement modern mariners" while delivering "effective, economical service (at) acceptable cost."

Other buoys nearby have been targeted for removal as well, including one just west of the entrance to Sakonnet Harbor in Little Compton, and a host in the Elizabeth islands out to Martha's Vineyard.

In Little Compton, town council members voted Thursday to send a letter to Senator Jack Reed, seeking his assistance in convincing USCG officials to reconsider their decision to remove the Sakonnet buoy. In the letter, councilors cite the safety of boaters, both pleasure and commercial, who use the harbor and rely on the marker for getting safely home.

Members of the public have until Friday, June 13, to respond to the proposal. E-mails can be sent to the Coast Guard at AD01-SMB-DPWPubliccomments@uscg.mil.