Coast Guard urges caution along N.J. Intracoastal Waterway as buoy project begins

Boating New Jersey’s Intracoastal Waterway will soon become even safer once the U.S. Coast Guard completes work that is set to begin Monday.

The Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Cape May and the Coast Guard Dive Team will remove damaged navigational pylons and replace them with seasonal buoys beginning July 15 through mid-August, according to a news release.

In April, the Coast Guard announced that the approximately two dozen navigational pylons that were damaged by winter ice formation and melting were marked with wreck buoys.

The work will begin in Toms River and progress south to Cape May. The New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway stretches between the Manasquan Inlet and the Cape May Canal on the Delaware Bay.

While divers remove the navigational pylons, the Coast Guard will deploy diver-down flags, day markers, lights and broadcast locations to mariners. Authorities ask boaters and watercraft operators to exercise caution while on the Intracoastal Waterway.

“As we start in the north and work our way south, we ask boaters to operate at a safe speed, and remain in the center of the channel as they transit the waterway,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Elijah Reynolds, officer in charge of Aids to Navigation Team Cape May. “Mariners are urged to use extreme caution while operating in the vicinity of dive operations.”