After receiving thousands of comments, the U.S. Coast Guard is working to revise its plan to remove hundreds of navigation buoys in the northeast. 

The federal agency this spring raised the prospect of pulling 350 navigational buoys — including about 20 around the Vineyard, Woods Hole and Gosnold — as more and more mariners use GPS and electronic navigational aids. 

Now, after taking in more than 3,000 comments, Coast Guard officials said they will use the feedback to come up with a new plan that could be out for public comment by next month.

“The Northeast District will review first round comments, assess feedback, and re-advertise with any changes to the current proposal,” Coast Guard director of marine transportation Michael Emerson wrote in a letter last week to Maine Sen. Angus King, who had called for delays. 

The new plan will still consider removing some buoys, but will also look at other changes, such as moving buoys and adding lights and sound signals. The changes are hoped to address the needs of mariners, while slimming down the more than 4,700 buoys that dot the waters from New York to Quoddy Head at the Canadian border, according to Matthew Stuck, the chief of waterways manager for the New England district. 

“Buoys are never going away,” he said. “They are too critical, but they don’t all provide the same service to mariners.” 

The original proposal included the possible discontinuation of buoys between Woods Hole harbor and the beginning of the Elizabeth Islands, the Squash Meadow East End Bell Buoy off Oak Bluffs, a buoy off Menemsha at the entrance to Vineyard Sound, several others around Cuttyhunk and the “hooter” buoy that marks the end of the Muskeget Channel. 

Several Vineyarders raised concerns about the proposal, and were among the thousands of commenters who worried that pulling too many buoys could lead to safety issues on the water. 

“I think it’s a bad idea,” Kurt Freund, who runs Fishsticks Charters on the Vineyard, said at the time. “I think that some of the buoys are absolutely essential.”

Woods Hole, which can be treacherous for boaters, was a big point of contention in the comments, according to Mr. Stuck. The area has among the highest concentrations of buoys in a small area in the entire district.

The feedback from the public in general has been the most robust in recent memory, and almost entirely against the idea. About 80 per cent were against the plan in general and about 20 per cent had feedback on particular buoys, according to Mr. Stuck.

The reaction was expected though, and the Coast Guard says it will incorporate the main takeaways into the new plan. 

“That’s a big theme, and frankly what makes this important, but necessarily time-consuming work,” Mr. Stuck said. 

The new proposal is expected to be released by the end of September, which would kick off a new eight-week public comment period.