Edgartown Harbormaster Charlie Blair remains in deliberations with U.S. Coast Guard Sector Southeast official Edward LeBlanc over the fate of can 9 in Edgartown Harbor. Can 9 is a federal buoy shaped like a huge soup can that marks a 19° turn in the harbor channel. The Coast Guard slated dozens of regional aids to navigation like it for removal last year. A handful of these aids, like can 9 and nun 4 on the periphery of Vineyard Haven Harbor, mark Vineyard waters.
Last autumn at a Coast Guard hearing in the Cornell Theater, the plan to nix nun 4 drew strong opposition from Island mariners as well as Tisbury’s selectmen and harbormaster. Subsequently it was dropped from the removal list. Mr. Blair told The Times that he’s been campaigning to preserve can 9, and has local support. He said cans 13 and 11 are already gone — pulled from Edgartown Harbor years ago.
Surrogate cans are now maintained by the town. Mr. Blair said that if the Coast Guard opts to pull can 9, the town won’t be able to install an exact replacement, because it has no vessel able to maintain a steel buoy so massive. He said federal buoys weigh thousands of pounds, so they can withstand sea ice. His department would place a foam buoy instead, and leave a marker called an ice stick in its place during the winter.