The U.S. Coast has put out a new proposal to update its navigational buoy network throughout the northeast after facing pushback on its previous plan. 

Earlier this spring, the agency had raised the potential to remove as many as 350 buoys from the region, including several around the Vineyard, Woods Hole and Gosnold. The Coast Guard reasoned that, with advances in GPS and other electronic navigational devices, not all of the buoys were needed any more.

But after receiving more than 3,000 comments, almost exclusively against the plan, the Coast Guard went back to the drawing board.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard issued the new proposal and is seeking public comment.

Under the new plan, the Coast Guard is eyeing 162 buoys for removal, as well as several other changes, such as relocating some navigational markers.

“[The proposal’s] main objectives remain to ensure long-term buoy system sustainability at the most navigationally critical locations for mariners while better understanding how navigation practices are changing through tools like GPS location, radar, AIS, electronic charts, and navigation apps,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement. “ The [proposal] update seeks to balance the use of physical aids with other navigation tools.”

The Vineyard Sound Entranced Lighted Whistle Buoy, which is at the Western end of the sound, is still slated for removal, as are several buoys in Woods Hole, the Muskeget Channel Lighted Whistle Buoy and the Squash Meadow East End Bell Buoy off Oak Bluffs.

The Coast Guard is also proposing to relocate buoys and combine them with others that are slated for removal. The Coast Guard, for instance, had originally proposed discontinuing two of the Sow and Pigs buoys off Cuttyhunk. Now, Coast Guard officials are proposing to discontinue one, and move the other in the middle of the two locations. 

Other buoys are proposed to be replaced with a tracking signal that’s sent out to boaters.

The public comment period is open through Nov. 15. The Coast Guard asks boaters to include the size and type of vessel they use, how they use the buoys to navigate and at what distance they start looking for and using the markers. 

Responses will only be accepted by email at [email protected].