The channel markers up and down the Key River are of great importance to our area’s safer navigation. We can always use help maintaining the channel to help replace stray markers, re-paint markers, lengthen/shorten chain etc. – it’s something that benefits us all. Please consider lending a hand and volunteer. Contact Morley MacDonald through the KRAA website at info@kraa.ca.
If you have any friends or family who have not joined the KRAA, it is worth giving them a nudge. The membership fee can easily be justified on this one service alone.
Please remember that the channel markers are intended to mark the deepest point of the river, which may or may not at any given time be safe to travel, and that they have long chains which allow them to move in certain circumstances given current and water level fluctuations. River navigation is “at your own risk.”
In 2020 the KRAA began a program to upgrade the river buoys. Over the past three years we have replaced approximately 30 buoys at a rough cost of $12,000.00. The Township of Killarney contributes significant financial support to this program annually.
In 2022, KRAA received notification that the Coast Guard would no longer maintain the shore markers along the river. We subsequently entered into an agreement with CCG whereby the KRAA assumed permanent ownership of these day beacons so they would not be removed.
In 2022, Speed Restriction buoys and signage were purchased and installed by KRAA in the narrows closest to Georgian Bay. This area is densely populated and there are frequently swimmers and non-motorized watercraft active in the area. This area has a federally legislated speed limit of 9km/h as per the Vessel Operators Restriction Regulations (VORR). Vessel operators are reminded that they must observe the limit.