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Context

• A GPS-equipped wave rider buoy with numerous weather-related devices was recently discovered onshore at the Gopalpur Military Station in Ganjam district, Odisha.

About

• A buoy is a floating item anchored at a specific point to advice or warn mariners, and identify the positions of submerged objects, or moor vessels instead of anchoring.
• Buoys are frequently brightly colored and have distinct designs or patterns, which make them easily visible to ships and other boats.
• Buoys are ubiquitous in harbors, ports, beaches, rivers, and lakes.
• Various institutions, such as the Coast Guard and other nautical authorities, maintain them.
• Buoyage system: 
• To ensure global buoyancy system homogeneity, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) divided the world into Regions A and B.
• Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Gulf, and several Asian countries compose Region A, whereas North, South, and Central America, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines comprise Region B.
• Special-purpose buoys are designed for a variety of uses; they include cable buoys, anchor buoys, or race buoys.
• A mooring buoy differs from other types in that it is not an aid to navigation but a point to which vessels may be tied up.
• IALA developed a system that allows the use of lateral markers in each region, however in Region A, the lateral system uses the colour red to designate the port side of channels and the colour green to mark the starboard side.
• Region B has the colours inverted.
• What is the difference between the starboard and port sides?
• When gazing forward towards the bow of the ship, the port side is the left side.
• When facing the bow, starboard is on the right side of the ship.
• When the ship is moving, the bow is the section of the ship that is most forward. The stern is the ship's back or aftmost portion.

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