NOAA’S UNITED STATES COAST PILOT
NAUTICAL BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

Acting upon President Bush’s “E-Government” initiative to make information easily accessible to the public, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has made the set of United States Electronic Coast Pilot books available on the Internet. Provided by NOAA National Ocean Service’s Office of Coast Survey, the set of nine volumes serves as a supplement to NOAA’s Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) and paper nautical charts. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The series of United States Coast Pilot nautical books cover the entire U. S. coast, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Great Lakes, the lower Mississippi River, Hawaii, Alaska and the Pacific Islands that are administered by the federal government. All nine volumes are available on the Internet: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm.

Coast Pilot contains supplemental information that is difficult to portray on nautical charts, such as channel and wharf descriptions, anchorages and bridge clearances. Although designed for professional mariners aboard ships of 1,600 gross tons or greater, Coast Pilot contains a host of information beneficial to recreational boaters as well.

In 2001, NOAA’s Coast Pilot Branch began the first phase of gradually reworking the printed edition of the books, including changing the text fonts for clarity and emphasizing section headings to make information easier to find. Posting the nine Coast Pilot books on the Internet for browsing, downloading and printing is the second phase of this project.

NOAA's National Ocean Service is dedicated to exploring, understanding, conserving and restoring the nation’s coasts and oceans. It balances environmental protection with economic prosperity in fulfilling its mission of promoting safe navigation, supporting coastal communities, sustaining coastal habitats and mitigating coastal hazards.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources.

On the Web:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

NOAA National Ocean Service: http://www.nos.noaa.gov

Office of Coast Survey: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/programs/cs/welcome.html

United States Coast Pilots: http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/cpdownload.htm