Canadian Coast Guard Information Kit

Aids to Navigation

The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) Aids to Navigation program involves the provision, operation and maintenance of over 17,000 short-range and long-range aids to navigation, which provides mariners with safe, accessible and effective vessel transit in Canadian waters. Short-range aids to navigation include visual aids (lighthouses and buoys), aural aids (foghorns) as well as radar aids (reflectors and beacons).

Long-range aids to navigation consist of Loran-C, a hyperbolic radio aid to navigation system that provides position information to vessels on the East and West coasts, and the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), which enhances the accuracy of the global positioning system and provides users with unprecedented accuracy in determining their geographical position.

The Aids to Navigation program also publishes and distributes navigation safety information in the form of Notices to Mariners (NOTMAR). This service offers advisories to ensure mariners, fish harvesters, recreational boaters and the marine community have access to safety information to maintain their navigational charts and publications. NOTMARs are available worldwide through the Web site, www.notmar.gc.ca, free of charge.

The CCG is continually testing the performance and durability of modern technologies with the objective of integrating them into Canada’s aids to navigation infrastructure to offer a more cost-effective and efficient system for Canadians.

CCG is also working to implement the concept of e-Navigation, which will enhance the ability to share information electronically on a timely basis between ships, from ship-to-shore and vice-versa. Examples of such information include notices to mariners, ice information, water depth and levels, tides and current, etc. Over the years, CCG has developed technical and operational expertise in a number of key components associated with e-Navigation, such as implementation of the Automatic Identification System (AIS), the deployment of the Long Range Identification Tracking (LRIT) system, and a pilot project for the transmittal of waterway information on the Québec portion of the St. Lawrence River.