BOSTON (WPRI) — If you rely on traditional buoys while navigating Northeast waters, they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) proposed getting rid of roughly 350 buoys across the Northeast to shift toward using more modern navigation systems like GPS, electronic charts and smartphone apps, and fewer physical markers.

That's around 6% of all federally maintained aids to navigation (AtoN) in the region.

The overall goal of the proposal, according to the Coast Guard, was to make boating safer and more efficient, since the buoys being removed were considered either nonessential or not in use.

Local harbormasters and boaters were concerned that this would compromise safety, since buoys serve as a backup when GPS fails or digital screens become t

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