Loss of Key Wx Buoys

[moorefish]

Please act:

Private funding for the West SB and Pt. Arguello bouys will end. NOAA is looking for input from commercial and sport fishermen.
These buoys are a very important tool for monitoring and prediction swell, wind / safety. Tax dollars well spent and good PR for NOAA.
Send your thoughts to:


Ryan.kittell@noaa.gov

[squibblips]

Thanks Mike.......we miss the Port San Luis information, and it would be a huge loss for Channel Islands fishing to lose those two.

[DEFIANCE]

We definitely can't afford the loss of the West Santa Barbara Channel bouy. It is a critical piece of information for us that fish Santa Rosa and San Miguel, or points further offshore of Point Conception. I sent an e-mail, and hopefully others will as well.

[petersmt]

Mike,

When you say West SB buoy, I am am summing that you mean the West Santa Barbara Channel Buoy #46054, correct?

What information are you basing your statements about the possible buoy removal on? I am not saying that it is BS, I just want more info before contacting NOAA so that we can tailor our input to be as powerful as possible.

I can't even imagine how losing the West Channel Buoy would impact near shore commercial vessels such as the oil service boats and oil barges and commercial fleet who rely on this buoy data hourly, plus all of us island weekend warriors.

I can hear the SB, Ventura, and Island surfers revolting as well.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Joey805]

That would really suck to loose this buoy!

[fisha]

i hope you guys dont lose it.....that blows

[DEFIANCE]

The below is NOAA's response to the loss of funding to the two bouys. It's very real, and below are the cold hard facts. Speak up and say your piece, or get a crystal ball to find out the current conditions at Santa Rosa or San Miguel Islands.


Hello Everyone,

I want to thank you for your emails concerning the potential loss of
these two automated buoys.

I am a forecaster and one of the local marine program focal points with
the National Weather Service in Oxnard, Ca. We were recently informed
that the agency that has funded these buoys in the past for research
purposes (Minerals Management Service - http://www.mms.gov) no longer
is
in need of these buoys. Because of this, they no longer wish to pay for
them.

NOAA's National Data Buoy Center (http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/), the
agency
that manages and maintains most of the other buoys did not plan for,
nor
has the budget to, absorb the cost of these buoys. As far as my office
knows, this will likely result in these two buoys shutting down in the
near future.

I agree with all of you that these two buoys are crucial for the safety
of area mariners. As forecasters, the folks in my office rely upon
these
two buoys in the issuing and forecasting of advisories and warnings.
These two buoys are traditionally the windiest in our area. We all want
these two buoys to stick around.

We are currently waiting for a statement from people above us in the
National Weather Service and NOAA as far as the status of this
situation
and who everyone can contact to voice concerns and opinions. When this
information is made available to us, we will post it to our website
(http://www.weather.gov/losangeles). Please check our webpage in the
next week or two...hopefully it wont take longer than that. Some of you
responded with offers and ideas for funding, please wait until this
statement is posted to our webpage so we can all see who is the right
point of contact for this. There is nothing we can do funding-wise here
at the local office.

Realistically we will lose at least one of these buoys. We are hoping
we
can find funding for at least one of them. The worst case scenario is
that we lose both bouys. In this event...all is not lost. We should be
able to move other buoys closer to these windier areas...like move the
santa maria buoy (46011) nearer to the point arguello buoy and the
point
conception buoy (46063) closer to the west SBA channel buoy. This of
course is not the best situation...but it would have to do if we are
dealt this hand.

Again, thank you for your comments. If there is anything else we can do
or if you have any other questions, we will try to answer them.

Have a good day,
Ryan Kittell

[Carnivore]

Good info guys, that is great. I hope something can be done to keep them up and running.

[petersmt]

Checkout the link to an article about this issue. Hopefully we can put some pressure on the feds and keep these important buoys up and running. Email or call your local, state, and federal elected officals.

The Santa Barbara Independent Feds Pull Funding for Key Channel Data Stations