Coast Guard to use buoys to enhance vessel tracking system

Coast Guard to use buoys to enhance vessel tracking system The U.S. Coast Guard plans to place transmitters on offshore weather buoys to extend the range of its electronic ship monitoring system, the Associated Press reported.
   Under an agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Coast Guard will place transmitters on about 70 buoys located hundreds of miles at sea by 2007. The Coast Guard’s Automated Identification System operates within 25 miles of a port. Under maritime security legislation that went into effect last year all commercial vessels entering U.S. ports must have an AIS that automatically radios ship information to local authorities to track their movements.