Safety first on the Lakes and beyond thanks to the Canadian Coast Guard

Crew of CCGS (Canadian Coast Guard Ship) Cove Isle and MCI (Maritime and Civil Infrastructure) Parry Sound working together on a day beacon, on Tranch Rock, Georgian Bay, Ontario.

Day beacon on Tranch Rock, Georgian Bay, Ontario, completed.

The Canadian Coast Guard’s (CCG) Aids to Navigation programme is an essential part of maintaining maritime safety and commerce, and helps ensure the safe and efficient transit of people and goods across the Great Lakes. CCG maintains a network of over 17,000 aids to navigation across Canada, including lighthouses, beacons, range lights, and several types of floating buoys.

1.3 metre, Canadian Coast Guard (CCG)designed buoy to be placed by CCGS Samuel Risley on Lake Superior, being loaded at CCG base in Parry Sound, Ontario.

The Aids to Navigation programme in CCG’s Central Region is responsible for more than 6,300 floating and fixed aids to navigation throughout the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River in Ontario and Quebec. These aids help identify hazards and preferred routes, and help mariners confirm their position, for both recreational and commercial boaters alike.

As commercial shipping picks up in the spring, CCG is busy with the commissioning of buoys across the Great Lakes. Depending on the type and location of these aids, this can include: placing buoys in the correct location; v installing lanterns and new reflective v markings on buoys; and cleaning and maintaining buoys, v markers, and lighthouses.

In the fall (autumn), the CCG decommissions these same aids.

To support its Aids to Navigation programme, the CCG relies on several multi-purpose assets. It has small, specialized, buoy tending vessels, as well as larger vessels with powerful cranes to lift and place heavier buoys. These same large vessels are also equipped with smaller work barges, to access shallow water areas. CCG helicopters often transport crews to isolated sites across the Great Lakes, where they maintain and repair fixed aids, including lighthouses and range lights.

The Aids to Navigation programme works very closely with CCG Marine Communications and Traffic Services during the spring and fall decommissioning periods to monitor completed operations and ensure the most up-to-date data is available for all users and clients. This collaboration is crucial for monitoring and reporting active navigational issues to the commercial mariner and the general public through Navigational Warnings (NAVWARN).

The CCG also carries out aids to navigation work on smaller inland waters across Canada, to support the busy summer recreational boating season.

About The Ccg

The Canadian Coast Guard is a special operating agency within Fisheries and Oceans Canada. It works to ensure the safety of mariners in Canadian waters and protect Canada’s marine environment.

The CCG supports Canada’s economic growth through the safe and efficient movement of maritime trade. It helps to ensure the country’s sovereignty and security through its presence in Canadian waters.