Community Corner
NOAA Drops Paper Charts for Mariners
In April, the federal government agency in charge of our fisheries and seas will stop publishing the large buff-colored navigational charts with which generations of mariners have plotted their courses. Will you miss them?
Today's seafarers have electronic plotting gear and a choice of private publishers from which to purchase navigational charts in both paper and software versions.
So it comes as no surprise to learn that our cash-strapped federal government is preparing to get out of the chart-printing business, as the Associated Press reported last week.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency responsible for the charts that have been used by generations of mariners, announced it will cease producing the documents next April, the AP reported.
For local reaction to the news, please see Paper Charts Go the Way of Sextant in Digital Age in the Vineyard Gazette.
Will you miss the NOAA charts? Tell us in the comments.
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