ALCOAST 220/19 - JUN 2019 WORLD MARINE AIDS TO NAVIGATION DAY

R 281613 JUN 19
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-5PW//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS //N06010//
ALCOAST 220/19
COMDTNOTE 6010
SUBJ: WORLD MARINE AIDS TO NAVIGATION DAY
1. During its General Assembly last year in Incheon, Republic of Korea, the International
Association of Lighthouse and Marine Aids to Navigation Authorities (IALA) established the
first World Marine Aids to Navigation Day on July 1, 2019, with the theme of “Successful
Voyages, Sustainable Planet.”
2. Maintaining Aids to Navigation is the U.S. Coast Guard’s oldest mission. With the ninth
law it passed, the Congress created the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment to provide “support,
maintenance and repairs of all lighthouses, beacons, (and) buoys.” Later called the U.S.
Lighthouse Service or Bureau of Lighthouses, the service safely guided mariners into
American ports for 150 years before becoming a part of the Coast Guard in 1939.
3. Today, Coast Guardsmen on 68 cutters and at 63 Aids to Navigation teams maintain more
than 48,000 buoys, beacons and electronic aids that help mariners to safely navigate more
than 25,000 miles of waterways and facilitate more than $5.4 trillion in economic
activity every year.
4. This complex and critical mission doesn’t stop at our water’s edge. In addition to
managing the U.S. Aids to Navigation System, the U.S. Coast Guard has shaped global
navigation guidelines and policies at IALA since it was established in 1957. Coast Guard
personnel from the Office of Navigation Systems, Office of Shore Forces, Navigation
Center, Waterways Operations Product Line, and Office of Enterprise Architecture and
Technology Innovation serve as members and elected leaders on the IALA Council, ATON
Regulations and Management Committee (ARM), eNav Information Services and Communications
Committee (ENAV), ATON Engineering and Sustainability Committee (ENG), and Vessel Traffic
Services Committee (VTS).
5. This partnership and involvement with IALA ensures the U.S. Coast Guard, America’s
multi-mission maritime service, maintains its storied legacy of light by working with
its international partners to make waterways safer, more efficient and more resilient.
6. I encourage all ATON professionals, and Black Hull sailors past and present, to
celebrate this milestone day and recognize your roles in safeguarding the U.S. Marine
Transportation System.
7. Mr. Michael D. Emerson, Director of Marine Transportation System Management, sends.
8. Internet release is authorized.