U.S. Coast Guard rules New Pass unsafe

The U.S. Coast Guard has ruled that New Pass is too shallow for safe navigation. As a result, officials will remove buoys and a sign that mark a federal channel through the pass next week.

But, the Coast Guard was unaware that Longboat Key was planning to dredge the pass in order to renourish some of its beaches, and so the removal will be temporary.

Coast Guard spokesman Darren Pauly said mariners are advised to use another inlet to reach the Gulf of Mexico until they are replaced.

“We can’t safely mark the best water anymore,” he said.

He is confident that the dredging will make the pass safe enough to replace the six buoys and a channel light that mark a federal channel for navigation.

“The (United States Army Corps of Engineers) will give us a survey when (the dredging) is complete,” he said, “and based on that survey we’ll re-mark the channel.”

Some mariners are unconvinced that the dredging will be sufficient. In an email to commissioners, Armando Linde wrote, “Dredging 200,000 cubic feet of sand from the channel likely will not be sufficient to resolve the dangerously shoaling that exists at the entrance to New Pass. These sandbanks have expanded severely in recent years creating an unsafe situation…”