Jetty where Marlin died won’t get lights

The U.S. Coast Guard won’t be installing lights on the Miami Beach jetty where Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez crashed his boat last year, killing himself and two friends.

The Coast Guard concluded that existing markers along the channel flanked by the jetty at Government Cut are enough to keep it safe and navigable.

“The captain of the Port of Miami has determined the existing aids that mark safe navigation through the channel, which include color-coded, lighted buoys and lighted range markers, to be sufficient,” the Coast Guard announced Thursday.

Miami-Dade police and

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, RMiami, called for warning lights on the dark, rocky jetty in the aftermath of Fernandez’s fatal Sept. 25 boat crash.

Fernandez, 24. an All Star pitcher, had alcohol and cocaine in his system when he crashed his 32-foot boat about 3 a.m. and flipped it upon the jagged jetty.

“It was determined that installing aids on jetties would not improve safe navigation and furthermore could possibly create confusion between the existing aids and thus impair safe navigation,” the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard concluded that the existing navigational aids — red and green buoys that notify boaters what direction to take when traveling through the inlet — were sufficient.

The two jetties at Government Cut are not lighted. There are channel markers that boaters drive between, and the jetties bracket those markers.

No commercial vessels have crashed on the jetties in the past five years, the Coast Guard said after conducting a survey in 2015.

In the same time period, according to the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission, there were 20 incidents with recreational boaters and those on personal watercraft near the inlet, in the sea nearby and on the Intracoastal Waterway. Only two of the 20 involved jetty collisions.

Thirteen of those incidents — ranging from falls from personal watercraft to fires to collisions or striking underwater objects — were blamed on operator inattention, no proper lookout, excessive speed and improper anchoring.

Congested waters and machinery failure also were causes.

AP FILE Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez‘s crash killed him and two friends. Officials found alcohol and cocaine in his system.

AP FILE Red and green buoys guide boaters through the inlet at the south end of Miami Beach. At night, there are color-coded, lighted buoys.