CLEVELAND – The Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock is scheduled to arrive in eastern Lake Erie near Buffalo by Saturday afternoon to retrieve navigational buoys in conjunction with Operation Autumn Retrieve.
The 225-foot Hollyhock, homeported in Port Huron, Mich., will pull up buoys from Dunkirk, Seneca Shoal of New York and Erie, Pa. on its way to Buffalo for a three or four-day mission, depending on weather and ice conditions.
Operation Autumn Retrieve, the largest domestic buoy recovery operation in the U.S. Coast Guard, commenced Oct. 14, with a goal of retrieving 1,289 navigational aids, and should be completed by Dec. 21, 2007. The aids, approximately half in the Great Lakes region, are taken out of service during the winter months due to decreased vessel traffic and to minimize damage from ice and inclement weather.
The Ninth Coast Guard District’s aids to navigation system facilitates safe and efficient maritime activity in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway region by marking safe passage for domestic, international, commercial and recreational vessel traffic. The Coast Guard manages 2,628 federal aids in the region.
To accomplish the aids to navigation mission, the Ninth Coast Guard District employs six Coast Guard cutters, five Aids to Navigations teams and five small boat stations with aids to navigation duties
Additional assistance is provided by the Lamplighters, civilian employees who manage the inland waters of Northern Minnesota.
The Coast Guard works closely with the Canadian Coast Guard and the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation to conduct Operation Autumn Retrieve.
