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With its famed coral reef located only a few miles offshore,
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary attracts divers, anglers and pleasure boaters from around the world.
To help avoid damage to the reefs by boat anchors and to aid boaters in navigation, the Sanctuary's buoy
maintenance team manages more than 770 buoys.
More than 470 of these are mooring buoys.
These white buoys with a blue band are placed at popular reef and wreck sites allowing boats
to tie up to them and avoid the need to drop anchor, which can break and damage living coral formations.
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Maintaining the Sanctuary's buoys is no easy task team. Teams of dedicated divers work
diligently to ensure the moorings and their underwater components are working properly,
replacing line and stressed shackles as needed. The sanctuary installs new buoys periodically,
a process which requires their trained working divers to use heavy hydraulic equipment underwater.
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In between their maintenance visits, the buoys and their line attract
algae and barnacles which require routine cleaning.
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Cleaning also allows for a detailed inspection and replacement of worn parts.
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The sanctuary's buoy maintenance team is also responsible for the installation and upkeep
of hundreds of marker buoys. These buoys include the large yellow buoys which designate the
boundaries of the sanctuary special zones. If you see these yellow buoys you may be in a protected
area with special rules. Other marker buoys managed by the sanctuary include spar buoys,
tall, cylindrical buoys which warn boaters of shallow areas, no wake zones, and even cultural
resources like shipwrecks. Help keep mooring buoys in safe and working condition.
Please moor to white and blue buoys appropriately. Never tie off the yellow pickup line directly to your boat.
Allow enough scope on your vessel's line to ensure the mooring buoy is resting in the water.
If you notice a damaged or missing line, or to report a missing buoy, please call the appropriate Sanctuary office.
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