NOAA Paper Nautical Charts To Be Discontinued

Vintage Chart Chesapeake Bay - Cape Henry to Thimble Shoal Light 1970 | credit:

NOAA Historical Map & Chart Collection

NOAA is initiating a five-year process to end all traditional paper nautical chart production. A public comment process is also underway.

According to the NOAA Office of Coast Survey, production will ultimately be shut down for all raster chart products and services associated with traditional NOAA paper nautical charts, including:

• Print-on-demand (POD) paper nautical charts
• Full-size chart PDFs
• NOAA raster navigational charts (NOAA RNC®)
• BookletChart™ PDFs
• NOAA RNC tile service
• Online RNC viewer

NOAA expects the cancellation of these product and services to start in mid to late 2020 and be completed by January 2025.

More detailed information regarding this transition is explained in the document Sunsetting Traditional NOAA Paper Charts: End of Paper and Raster Nautical Chart Production and Introduction of NOAA Custom Charts (https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/publications/docs/raster-sunset.pdf).

Public Comments

Chart users and other stakeholders can help shape the manner and timing in which the product sunsetting process will proceed by submitting comments to NOAA.

More information concerning public feedback is available via the Federal Register Notice (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/15/2019-24807/sunsetting-of-raster-nautical-charts) published on November 15, 2019.

Comments may be submitted through NOAA’s online ASSIST feedback tool (https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist).

source: NOAA Office of Coast Survey

Related Information

NOAA Office of Coast Survey

NOAA Historical Map and Chart Collection

Canada Marine Protected Areas Update

In 2019, Canada announced that the nation had surpassed its marine conservation target of 10 percent protection of marine and coastal areas.

The progress is the result of collaborative efforts with indigenous peoples, all levels of government, marine industries, and stakeholders.

To date, Canada has established 14 MPAs under the Oceans Act, three National Marine Conservation Areas, one marine National Wildlife Area, and 59 marine refuges. These areas protect 13.81% of Canada’s marine and coastal areas.

Projects include:


2019

• Establishment of the Tuvaijuittuq Marine Protected Area (MPA). This MPA contributes 5.55 percent towards Canada’s marine conservation targets and encompasses an area of 319 411 km2.
• Amendments to the Oceans Act enabling the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to designate interim MPAs to provide protection to vulnerable areas while further scientific research and consultation take place.
• Adoption of new protection standards for federal MPAs and other effective area-based conservation measures to better conserve sensitive and important parts of oceans.
• Establishment of 2 Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas.
• Banc-des-Américains MPA.
• Laurentian Channel MPA.
• Announcement of 8 new marine refuges in Howe Sound, between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

2018

• Establishment of Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area off Vancouver Island.
• Announcement of the Canada-Quebec Collaborative Agreement to Establish a Network of Marine Protected Areas in Quebec.

2017

• Announcement of 51 marine refuges; representing approximately 275,000 km2 and 4.78% of conserved marine territory.
• Establishment of 2 Oceans Act Marine Protected Areas
• Hecate Strait/Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reef MPA
• St. Anns Bank MPA
• Announcement of the final boundary for the Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area in the High Arctic.

2016

• Establishment of Anguniaqvia niqiqyuam Marine Protected Area in the Beaufort Sea, Northwest Territories.

Future Projects

The Government of Canada remains committed to carrying out the work set out under the five-point plan, including the protection of large offshore areas such as the Offshore Pacific Area of Interest, identified in May 2017, west of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

source: Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans


Related Information

New Canada Marine Refuges (Nunavut - Newfoundland and Labrador)

Canada Inuit Nunangat Arctic Region

Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans

2017 North Carolina Coastal Conference

2017 North Carolina Coastal Conference
April 4 - 5, 2017
McKimmon Center
Raleigh, NC

North Carolina Sea Grant will host North Carolina’s Coastal Conference, April 4 - 5, 2017, at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The 2017 Coastal Conference will energize partnerships to develop solutions that can benefit the state’s coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems.

“Many communities from central North Carolina to the coast found their resilience tested in 2016,” notes Susan White, executive director of North Carolina Sea Grant and the Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina system. “They continue to need information and resources to respond to, recover from and anticipate both urgent and long-term coastal challenges.”

Coastal Conference sessions will include:

weather, storms and climate;

community and ecosystem health;

fisheries and aquaculture; and

planning and economics.

Experts from the fields of economics, transportation, energy, environment, industry, and health will lead interdisciplinary sessions designed to bring together diverse perspectives.

The program includes a networking reception on April 4 at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Research Center in Raleigh.

Registration and other details are available at ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/nc-coastal-conference.

source: North Carolina Sea Grant

2017 Maine - New Hampshire Beaches Conference

The Beaches Conference 2017 (Maine - New Hampshire)
July 14, 2017
Wells High School, Wells, ME
seagrant.umaine.edu/maine-beaches-conference

The Beaches Conference 2017 will be held July 14, 2017 at Wells High School in Wells, Maine. Participant registration will begin in May.

The Beaches Conference works to provide continuing opportunities for exchange of the most current information among beach and coastal stakeholders with diverse interests, and to present the findings from Maine and New Hampshire beach monitoring programs.

Conference Themes:

Management approaches in our coastal habitats
Implementing successful projects in beach communities
Preparing for and adapting to our future
The nature, and culture of our beaches
Monitoring, research, and emerging issues on the coast
Respecting stakeholder needs and values
Coastal development and regulation

The Beaches Conference Steering Committee includes:
Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Kennebec Estuary Land Trust
Maine Coastal Program
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Maine Geological Survey
Maine Healthy Beach Volunteers
Maine Sea Grant
New Hampshire Sea Grant
Rockingham Planning Commission
Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission
Town of Damariscotta
Town of Kennebunkport
University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Walsh Engineering
Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve


For more information, visit: seagrant.umaine.edu/maine-beaches-conference


source: Maine Sea Grant

El Niño and La Niña Pacific Coast Effects

The projected upsurge of severe El Niño and La Niña events will cause an increase in storm events leading to extreme coastal flooding and erosion in populated regions across the Pacific Ocean, according to a multi-agency study published recently in Nature Geoscience.

“This study significantly advances the scientific knowledge of the impacts of El Niño and La Niña,” said Patrick Barnard, USGS coastal geologist and the lead author of the study. “Understanding the effects of severe storms fueled by El Niño or La Niña helps coastal managers prepare communities for the expected erosion and flooding associated with this climate cycle.”

New research data, from 48 beaches across three continents and five countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, suggest the predicted increase will exacerbate coastal erosion irrespective of sea level rise affecting the region.

Researchers from 13 different institutions, including the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and the University of Waikato (New Zealand) analyzed coastal data from across the Pacific Ocean basin from 1979 to 2012.

The published paper, “Coastal vulnerability across the Pacific dominated by El Niño/Southern Oscillation” is available online.

source: U.S. Geological Survey