SOUTH PORTLAND – The foghorns at 17 lighthouses across the Maine coast will convert to radio-activated signal technology by May, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.
The Coast Guard is in the process of updating foghorns that were designed to automatically sound in the presence of fog. Officials with the Coast Guard said newer technology activated by mariners via radios is safer and more effective. It also tends to result in fewer of the foghorns’ familiar blasts.
The Coast Guard already has converted eight lighthouses in Maine and New Hampshire. The plan eventually will leave Maine without the old-time foghorn activation systems.
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. David Bourbeau said the remaining updates will begin in mid-December. The changes have proven unpopular in some coastal communities, where residents have raised safety questions or opposed the move on the grounds that the frequent foghorn blast is part of the character of the community.
“We understand change is sometimes unpopular. The fact of the matter is this is the way the Coast Guard is going with this,” Bourbeau said. “We want everyone to be safe out there.”
The marine radios needed to activate the foghorns cost about $60 and the Coast Guard recommends all mariners carry one, from kayakers to commercial boaters, Bourbeau said. The lighthouses to be converted stretch all along the state’s rocky coast, including Goat Island Light off Cape Porpoise in southern Maine to Dog Island Light in Eastport astride the Canadian border.
The Coast Guard initially hoped to convert the foghorns by the end of this year. The guard spent the year visiting towns to inform residents and officials about the switch, and will do so again once each conversion is completed, officials said.
Capt. Michael Baroody, Coast Guard commander in northern New England, said the old fog detectors “are prone to failure, expensive to maintain and require specialized training to preserve.”
Acquiring parts to fix old fog detectors was also becoming more difficult, Coast Guard officials said.
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