Safety Zone-Oil Exploration Staging Area in Goodhope Bay; Kotzebue Sound, AK

The Coast Guard is establishing temporary safety zones in the Port of Goodhope Bay, Alaska, and adjacent U.S. territorial sea on July 1 and October 15, 2015. The temporary safety zones will encompass the navigable waters within a 25-yard radius of moored or anchored offshore exploration or support vessels, and the navigable waters within a 100- yard radius of underway offshore exploration or support vessels. The purpose of the safety zones are to protect persons and vessels during an unusually high volume of vessel traffic in the Port of Goodhope Bay and the adjacent territorial sea due to additional vessel traffic associated with exploratory drilling operations in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas during the summer of 2015.