Transcript
Page 1: A reformatted text-only version of the brochure. View from the Bridge Troubled Waters Every day huge shipments move through major ports Throughout the

A reformatted text-only version of the brochure

Page 2: A reformatted text-only version of the brochure. View from the Bridge Troubled Waters Every day huge shipments move through major ports Throughout the

View from the BridgeTroubled Waters

Every day huge shipments move through major portsThroughout the U.S.—shipments such as time-criticalcontainer cargoes through the port of Seattle, asshown here, and vital petroleum supplies through eastcoast ports. NOAA recently withdrew its tide and tidalcurrent charts from the port of New York and newJersey because they had become seriously outdated and misleading.

The S.S. Normandie arriving in NewYork harbor circa 1936. In those days,the average steamship was 460 feetlong and 63 feet wide, with a draft of26 feet. Today, modern ships are over900 feet long and 100 feet wide, and have drafts of up to 60 feet. Their normal clearance from the bottom is often as small as 2 feet.

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Our nation’s waters may not be as safe as most Americans think they are. In and surrounding many of our busiest ports, uncharted wrecks and obstructions silently waitto be discovered by hapless mariners. U.S. maritime laws and international agreementsrequire our government to provide charts and related information “adequate to ensuresafe navigation in U.S. waters.” Yet U.S. coastal waters have never been completelysurveyed, and about 60 percent of NOAA’s nautical charts are based on pre-1940 datacollected with obsolete technologies. Tidal predictions for many locations are also unreliable: two-thirds are based on data over forty years old, another 10 percent are over sixty years old, and a few even date from the turn of the century. And because dredgingand filling change circulation patterns, even recently published data for some of our majorports are outdated.

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Compounding these navigational hazards is the rapid, widespread growth of trafficon U.S. waters. Waterborne commerce has tripled since 1947, and the U.S. Departmentof Transportation projects that it will triple again over the next three decades. The number of recreational boaters has nearly doubled since 1970, crowding already over-flowing harbors. Economics of scale have driven the shipping industry toward investingin larger ships, and they’re carrying more oil and hazardous materials than ever before. These factors and others—most notably, human error—contribute to nearly 3,500commercial shipping accidents every year in U.S. waters, and 6,400 recreationalboating accidents. NOAA is the only producer of nautical charts for U.S. waters, although many otherorganizations reproduce these charts. NOAA charts are mandatory aboard all ships larger than 1,600 tons and are expected to be accurate and complete. The recent groundingsof the Queen Elizabeth 2 in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, and the Glacier Bay inCook Inlet, Alaska, have resulted in lawsuits against NOAA challenging its charts andsurvey methods. Under the current system, NOAA is barely treading water. Groundings, collisions, andspills are damaging and polluting our coastal environments, the backlogs of requests fornew surveys and charts are growing relentlessly, and NOAA’s charting budgets are steadlyeroding. As the steward of safety on our nation’s waters, NOAA must thoroughly modernize its navigational services to safeguard lives, preserve the environment, andenhance the growth of commerce at sea.

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The Risky Business of Maritime Commerce

Although maritime accidents aren’t as frequent as accidents on our roads, when they dohappen, their toll is substantial: loss of lives and cargo, damage to species and sensitiveecosystems, shutdowns of ports and fisheries, rising insurance premiums and costly publicrelations to repair tarnished corporate images. Below are some examples of groundingsin which the adequacy of charts, tide tables, or current tables was at issue.

On March 24, 1989, heading out from the port of Valdez, the EXXON Valdez left the channel and struck Bligh Reef, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound.

“From 1980 to 1988, tankersin the United States wereinvolved in 468 groundings,371 collisions, 97 rammings,55 fires and explosions, and95 deaths.”

--Natural Resources Defense Council, No Safe Harbor

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Ship When Where Damages

Queen Elizabeth 2(passenger liner)

American Trader(tanker)

Hyundai 12(cargo vessel)

Northumberland(fishing vessel)

Glacier Bay(tanker)

1992

1990

1991

1989

1987

Vineyard Sound, MA

Huntington Beach, CA

Twelve Fathom Straits, AK

Sabine Pass, TX

Cook Inlet, AK

$45 million,litigation pending

$30 million,litigation pending

$994,000,litigation pending

11 fishermen dead

$50 million, litigation pending

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Eighty percent of the nation’s top ten ports need extensive resurveying. For example,in Galveston Bay, which hasn’t been surveyed since 1937, large volumes of petrochemicalsand coal products were spilled in the 1,240 groundings that occurred there between 1986and 1991. Most of the groundings were caused by adverse tide and wind conditions. (NOAA’s tide and tidal current tables for the Bay may be off by as much as two hours.)

Lower Mississippi, LA*Houston/Texas City.Galveston, TXNew York and New JerseyDelaware Bay and RiverValdez, AKLong Beach/Los Angeles, CANorfolk/Newport News, VABeaumont/Port Arthur, TXCorpus Christi, TXTampa, FL

409193115108949277666146

70522112256 01515238 0 70

Top TenU.S. Ports

1992 Commerce(millions of tons)

Critical Survey Needs:Ports and Approaches (square miles)

*includes ports along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and the Gulf of Mexico

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NOAA’s traditional system for revising charts entails thousands of hours of manual labor; double checking information, and manually engraving color separations. “New” charts roll of the press as long as ten months after compilation, during which many changes may have taken place in the area charted.

Electronic NavigationThe Wave of the Future

Rapid advances in navigation technologieshave opened a window of opportunity for promoting the sustainable economic growthof U.S. maritime trade and ensuring theprotection of mariners and coastal ecosystems.State-of-the-art chart production, surveying,and navigational technologies can be integrated to create highly efficient, reliablenavigational systems that promise to significantly reduce the risk of accidentswhile increasing the profitability of maritimecommerce. Prototypes of these electronicsystems are being used today on military,commercial, and recreational vessels.

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Automated Nautical Charts

The increasing use of advanced technologies for navigation and piloting is creating a growing demand for digital nautical charts. NOAA is developing and testing a second-generation automated nautical charting system to enable production of its paper charts from a centralized digital nautical data base.

Once the master data base is loaded, the automated system will allow for new editions of nautical charts and products to be issued more efficiently. It will enable NOAA to provide digital navigation products that can be customized with electronic chart systems. This flexibility will be integral to the success of NOAA’s modernization efforts.

International regulations and U.S. law require commercial vessels over 1,600 tons to carry complete official charts or their approved equivalents. NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard are closely working with the International Hydrographic Organization, the International Maritime Organization and other maritime nations to develop international performance standards for exchanging digital data. These standards will greatly facilitate the transition from paper charts to electronic chart systems.

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State-of-the-Art Survey Technologies

Before 1930, oceanographers surveyed the ocean floor by throwing a knotted lead line over the side of the ship, recording the measured depth, and then taking another measurement a few meters farther along. Although this technology was surprisingly accurate, it was extremely time consuming and missed large and potentially hazardousareas of the ocean floor. About 60 percent of NOAA’s current nauticalcharts are based on data collected with a lead line or primitive echo sounders.

The value of any chart—either digital or paper—liesin the accuracy of its information. Part of NOAA’s mission is to chart and update some 95,000 miles of coastline and 3.5 million square nautical miles of oceans.Every year NOAA receives hundreds of requests forsurveys of perceived navigational hazards. As the numberof NOAA survey vessels and days at sea has declinedbecause of budgetary constraints, the backlog of surveyrequests has grown to more than 1,000 since 1984, drivinghome the need for highly cost-effective, efficient, andaccurate surveying technologies. Using state-of-the-art technologies, NOAA is findingsignificant navigational hazards in waters previouslysurveyed with conventional methods. For example, in

April 1994, the NOAA ship RUDE, using a prototype shallow-water multibeam echo sounder, discovered an uncharted fifteen-foot shoal near the entrance to New Bedford harbor, where the current chart shows a depth of twenty-seven feet. In June 1994, the NOAA ship WHITING found nine uncharted wrecks and obstructions in Delaware Bay’s proposed traffic-separation lanes. And in June 1995, a survey done for NOAA discoveredan obstruction in the shipping lanes of Long Island Sound rising from charted depths ofnearly sixty feet to just eighteen feet below the surface.

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Differential Global Positioning System

Using a side-scan sonar, the NOAA ship WHITING recently detected thirteen dangerous rocks (circled) in Nantucket Sound that were previously missed by less accurate survey methods. The Sound is heavily trafficked by recreational boaters, large passenger ferries, commercial fishing boats and fuel oil bargessupplying Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

For centuries, determining a vessel’s precise posi-tion has been a major challenge for surveyors and navigators. Using the old sextant and triangulationtechniques, by the time a navigator fixed a plot on achart, the vessel may have sailed several minutes beyond the plotted position. At sea, knowing where you were is not good enough, particularly in adverseweather conditions, when visibility is limited. This problem was overcome in 1993, when theGlobal Positioning System (GPS) became operational.Although initially designed for military use, GPS hasproven invaluable for civil use as well. A far cry fromtraditional plotting methods, GPS satellites beam their signals from a fixed point on shore—such as aU.S. Coast Guard radio beacon—enable a ship topinpoint its location within three to five meters. By1996, the majority of U.S. waters should havedifferential GPS coverage. NOAA is working closelywith the U.S. Coast Guard to ensure that the differen-tial GPS locations are accurately connected to chartsthrough the National Spatial Reference System.

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(1) Multibeam echosounders collect wideswaths of precise depth data. (2) Side-scan sonardetects hazards by producingimages of strips of the sea floor. (3) Airborne lasersystems can provide an accurate, cost-effectivealternative to sonar surveysin many areas. (4) Satellitesignals are received simul-taneously at the survey

vessel and helicopter and a known point on shore. (5) Corrections to the satellite signalsare instantaneously transmitted from shore to the survey vessel and helicopter, providingaccurate positioning within three to five meters.

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Real-Time Tide and Current Systems

Mechanical tidal gauges were first used in the U.S. in the 1850’s. This old wooden station, used in 1897 in Fort Hamilton, NY, is one of the earliest examples of a real-time, tide-measuring mechanism. On entering or leaving the port, mariners would view this station through binoculars to check the water level.

Half of the tidal stations in thecountry today are based on a systemthat requires going to the station andphysically collecting tidal measure-ments recorded every six minutes ontape. The data are used to developtidal datums and tidal prediction tables for the area.

A port’s maritime mission is to maximize both theefficient movement of ocean-borne cargo and the safetyof the vessels visiting its shores. Whether channels aredredged through soft sediment or carved in granite,deepening or widening them is very difficult and costly.As the average size of today’s commercial ships continuesto grow, the margins between their bottoms and the floors

of the channels they sail through are shrinking. Maneuverability is increasingly restricted,raising the risk of oil spills and accidents involving other hazardous materials. The growing unacceptability of this risk can be seen in today’s soaring cleanup and liti- gation costs. Yet, accompanying the demand for enhanced environmental protection is industry’s shift to “just-in-time” manufacturing, along with strong consumer demand forcompetitive prices. Because of uncertainty about tides and currents, large commercialcarriers and tankers are delayed at ports and offshore as they wait for optimal transit conditions.

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2

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KeepingCurrent With Real-Time Technologies

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems allow ships to access real-time nautical datafrom a variety of instrumentsat several locations in ports andharbors. (1) The Acoustic Dop-pler Current Profiler (ADCP)measures the speed and directionof the current at various depthsbetween the surface of the water and the sea floor. (2) A receivernear the ADCP transmits theinformation to a central receiving

station, which may be many miles away. (3) NOAA water-level stations throughout the areaautomatically relay to computers at the central receiving station information on water levels,winds, and water temperatures. (4) The central receiving station makes this information avail-able to the public via telephone using a voice data system, via PC/modem dial-up systems, andvia Internet. The National Weather Service also accesses this information for broadcast overNOAA Weather Radio.

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With state-of-the art digital technologies, real-time andpredicted tide and current information is available by telephone or computer. This data plot from Baltimore Harbor shows the great disparity between the predicted astronomical tides (blue), which do not include the effects of winds and river flows, and the actual tides (red), which can be predicted by modern techniques.

With accurate, real-time information and modern forecasts, newer, deeper-draft ships cansafely adjust loads to use the available draft margins. Physical Oceanographic Real-TimeSystems (PORTS) allow ships—berthed or under way—to access real-time data from a variety of instruments that measure currents, winds, and waves, along with water levels (tides),depths, temperatures, and salinity. These data enable much more accurate tide and currentpredictions, reducing travel delays and increasing traffic-handling capabilities. They are alsoinstrumental in preventing and responding to spills of hazardous materials and oil, predictingcoastal floods, and conducting scientific research. The success of PORTS in Tampa Bay, FL,is fueling support for the establishment of these systems at other ports around the country.

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Electronic Chart Systems This close-up of an electronic chart system displays preciseinformation on the ship’s position, course, speed, draft,soundings, way points, andwarning system. The circlesshow the ship’s distance fromvarious fixed points and other vessels. The dotted redline shows the ship’s plannedroute; the solid white line, theactual course taken; and thedotted yellow line, the pro-jected course of the ship if itdoesn’t turn at the specifiedpoint.

Electronic chart systems willradically change the face of maritimenavigation. They can accuratelydisplay a vessel’s real-time location, automatically update that informationevery one to two seconds, and distinguish among floating aids to navigation, vessels,and points of land. Radar images can be superimposedon thse “smart charts,” along with data from real-time tide,current, and marine weather-forecasting systems. And byanalyzing a vessel’s course and speed and the nautical chartdata, these systems can instantaneously detect hazards, estimate how long it would take torun into them, and automatically sound an alarm. The simplest electronic chart system can be run on an inexpensive laptop computer, while fully functional systems require more sophisticated computer interfaces and displays.The former are already being used by yachtsmen and small fishing vessels, and the latter by large ships, such as tankers, freighters, and ferries.

Although the simplest electronic chart systems don’t support all the functionsof their more sophisticated counterparts, they meet the safety needs of many small vessels and can cost less than a thousand dollars.

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Hailed as the most significant advance in navigationsince the advent of radar, electronic charts can provide mariners with all the information they need for safe and efficientnavigation. This electronic system aboard the Clipper Cruise Lines’ NANTUCKET CLIPPER” gives thecaptain both a broad overview and detailed close-ups of navigational aids and hazards in the surrounding area.

A joint U.S.—Canadian study of WestCoast shipping completed in July 1990found that electronic chart systems could reduce the total number of acci-dents by 15-19 percent. Recent analysisby the Marine Policy Center in Woods

Hole, MA, produced similar estimates of preventable accidents and indicated that usingelectronic charts could avert losses averaging $3 million a day. The U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA are participating in a joint government—industry pro-ject to demonstrate, test, and evaluate the Electronic Chart Display and Information System(ECDIS). By dramatically increasing the speed, ease, and accuracy of performing navi-gational tasks and help navigators concentrate on avoiding collisions and groundings. Today’s most sophisticated systems incorporate artificial intelligence. A prototype systemis in use in tanker operations on the West Coast. If no one aboard responds to the automaticalarm built into the electronic chart system, the system gives the ship a rudder command andthe ship automatically turns away from the hazard.

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In August 1993, the cruise ship Yorktown Clipper struck a charted,underwater rock in Glacier Bay. Although the 175 passengers and crewmembers escaped injury, and the pristine environment of Glacier BayNational Park remained unspoiled, the ship’s hull was ruptured in several places, with damages amounting to about $3 million. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the accident’s probable

causes were failure to plot the ship’s courses and positions and inadequate oversight of the ship’s navigation. It notedthat an electronic chart system would reduce the risk of groundings by providing watch officers a continuous, accurate display of their position and by giving them “more time and better information for projecting any proposed maneuver and judging its consequences.” The repaired Yorktown Clipper now has an electronic chart system, even though full approval and availability of certified digital data are yet to come.

In September 1993, in a dense fog near Mobile, Alabama, the tug Mauville and its barge rammed into a railroad bridge, causing the subsequent derailment of an Amtrack train. Of the 210 passengers, 47 were killed and numerous others were injured.

“If an electronic charting systemand the DGPS (differential globalpositioning system) had been available and installed on inlandtowing vessels such as the Mauvilla, the accident at theBig Bayou Canot railroadbridge could have been avoided.”--National Transportation Safety Board

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Potential Losses of Natural Resources From Spills of HazardousCommodities

S.C.Delaney/U.S.EPA

Every day ships carry hazardouscommodities into U.S. ports. A spillthe size of the Exxon Valdez spill, shown along the East and West Coastsof the United States, would have devastating consequences for our nation’s marine sanctuaries and estuarinereserves—not to mention the millions oftourist dollars lost from beach closings.

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S.C. Delaney/U.S.EPA

The table that follows estimates (in 1990dollars) damages from spills of hazardouscargo as they relate to fourteen categoriesof fish, sea birds, and marine mammals.It accounts for lost revenue from the closingof shellfish beds, decreases in the size andproductivity of fisheries, changes in fishmarket prices, and effects on seafood pro-cessors and other supporting businesses.

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Zone CommoditySpill Size

Small Catastrophic(8,000 gal.) (4,000,000 gal.)

Mobile, AL

Anchorage/Cook Inlet, AK

San Francisco, CA

Tampa, FL

Chesapeake North/Baltimore, MD

Wilmington, NC

Philadelphia/Delaware Bay, PA

Providence, RI

Houston/Galveston, TX

Puget Sound, WA

Gasoline

Crude

Gasoline

#1 Fuel Oil

Gasoline

Alcohol

#6 Fuel Oil

Gasoline

Alcohol

Gasoline

$435,000

432,000

134,000

153,000

16,000

841,000

127,000

84,000

10,339,000

26,000

$1,818,032,000

20,920,000

232,032,000

47,486,000

764,636,000

258,592,000

63,712,000

459,760,000

1,055,704,000

75,984,000

Sources: Alaska Fish and Game, vol.21, no.4, U.S. Coast Guard, Port Needs Study.

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All WinnersIn the Race for Modernization

Historically, the shipping industry and the military have been the primary users ofNOAA’s navigational services. Over the years, their demand for accurate, reliable navi-gational information and services has grown steadily with the nation’s economic and military strength. Many other users – commercial fishermen, tug’ and barge operators,recreational boaters, the survey community, and coastal zone managers, engineers, andscientist – have benefited as well, along with society at large. NOAA’s modernization program is essential to the efficient provision of today’s andtomorrow’s navigational services. All of these groups will be winners in safer, morepredictable waters.

Commercial Shipping

The health of maritime commerce is critical to the health of the U.S. economy. Morethan 98 percent of our nation’s foreign trade by weight is carried by sea. In 1990, 850million tons of cargo valued at $500 billion moved through our waterways and in 1991 thecommercial shipping industry supported 1.5 million jobs, provided personal income of$52 billion, and generated $14 billion in federal taxes and $5.3 billion in state and localtaxes. While foreign trade accounts for more than 20 percent of our national’s grossdomestic product today, it is expected to climb to 30 percent by the year 2000.

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Efficiency and safety dictate the bottom line of today’s intensely competitive shippingindustry. Shipping delays caused by taking longer routes around poorly charted areas orwaiting for confirmation of uncertain tides can cost the industry as much as $3,000 an hour. Inches matter. The coal industry, for example, can be seriously damaged if shipscan’t be fully loaded or if smaller vessels have to be used. And the cleanup and environ-mental costs of an oil spill continue to rise. The potential for environmental damage from future oil spills is significant, given thatpetroleum and petroleum-related products account for over half of the total ton-miles ofall waterborne commodities, and our nation’s dependence on imported oil continues togrow. Largly in response to the EXXON Valdez grounding, Congress enacted the Oil Spill Prevention Act in 1990, requiring all oil tankers to have double hulls by 2015. Theincremental cost of this retrofitting is estimated to be $10-$20 billion. Although double hulls should reduce the volume of spills by about 70 percent, they won’t prevent accidents and about 30 percent of the oil carried by the ships in those accidents will stillescape into our waters. Analysis of the Valdez voyage has shown four distinct points at which an alarm wouldhave sounded if an electronic chart system had been in use. When compared to EXXON’sestimated $3 billion cleanup cost, the $100,000 price tag for the most sophisticatedelectronic chart system (or even the $160 million cost for modernizing NOAA’s navi-gational services) might be viewed as a mere drop in the ocean.

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Real-World Profits from Real-Time Technologies

The international trend in commercial shipping is toward fewer but larger vessels. With better information about water levels, currents, and obstructions, the newer deeper-draft ships can enter U.S. harbors and carry more cargo for export. The Association of Maryland Pilots recently raised Baltimore’s maximum draft from 39.5 feet to 41 feet—a direct result of the pilots’ use of real-time water-level data from NOAA gauges in Chesapeake Bay. Similar impacts have been seen in the Delaware River and Bay System, in Portland, Oregon, and in Tampa, Florida. Estimated revenue increases range from $36,000 to $288,000 for each additional foot of draft for large bulk and container ships. National economic models indicate that if port shoaling or uncertainty about water levels added one percent to the cost of crude petroleum imports, $3.1 billion would be lost from our gross domestic product, alone with 61,000 jobs.

“…had it (ECDIS) been installed onthe EXXON Valdez, that ill-fated tanker likely would never have run aground.” --Technology Review, October 1994

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National Defense

U.S

. Nav

y

The U.S. Navy is committed to outfitting the bridges on all of its ships with electronic chart systems over the next four to five years.

Because of its ongoing need to maintain sea power,the U.S. military will be a primary beneficiary of NOAA’s modernization program. Over 40 percent ofthe charts NOAA publishes are purchased by the U.S.military. Charts and data necessary to submarine andsurface navigation are used by the Navy in trainingexercises and are essential to military preparedness.During Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, themost intensive buildup of American forces in history,U.S. ports handled two-thirds of the military cargo.

The navigational information the military depends on today is incomplete, and six of the Navy’s home ports critically need more accurate and reliable data. For example, Norfolk naval base, the largest naval port in the world, houses a vast fleet of deep-draftships and is a major thoroughfare for large commercial ships and barge traffic. Numerousobstructions throughout the area need investigation, and the port’s sandy, silty bottom isconstantly changing. With contemporary surveys, a fully operational real-time marine forecasting system, and electronic charts on the bridges of all of its ships, the U.S. Navywill be in a far better position to respond quickly and efficiently to military emergencies.

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Commercial Fishing Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Each year an average of 250 fishing vessels are lost along the Atlantic, Gulf, Pacific, andAlaskan coasts, and over 100 fisherman lose their lives at sea. Alarmed by these statistics,Congress passed the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988, includinga requirement that fishing vessels on the high seas carry nautical charts and a full set of navigational equipment. Many fishing accidents are caused by human error and occur in remote areas that arepoorly charted. Electronic chart systems with accurate data can help fishermen reducegroundings by 80 percent. Besides making navigation safer for commercial fisherman,

Commercial fishing is a major nationalindustry. In 1992, about 9.6 billion pounds of fish, valued at about $3.7 billion, were landed at U.S. ports. Today, commercial fishing operations employ over 364,000 people and supply thousands of supermarkets, speciality stores and restaurants throughout the country.

modernizing NOAA’s navigational services will increasetheir operational efficiency by reducing gear damage andlosses from accidents and will boost their productivity byfacilitating their search for fishing grounds. Commercial fishermen will also reap benefits from theenvironmental protection that modernized navigation affords. When the Glacier Bay grounded in Cook Inletin 1987, spilling 130,000 gallons of oil, the local fisherywas closed for the entire year, resulting in $50 million indamages and lost revenues, and decreases in the size andproductivity of the fishery. By making navigation safer

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for commercial shippers, electronic technologies will reduce the risk of spills of oil andhazardous materials and thus will protect national fishing grounds and nurseries.

Recreational Boating and Tourism

Between 1970 and 1993, the number ofrecreational boats owned by Americans nearlydoubled—from 8.8 million to 16.5 million. Thisincrease in the number of mariners who navigatein areas not frequented by commercial shippersor the military has heightened the need for modern navigational services and new charts. Because recreational boaters have limitedstorage space, they often navigate withoutinformation and tools critical to their safety. Withelectronic chart software that can run on laptopcomputers, all the necessary navigational infor-mation is available in one easy-to-use, compactformat that shows shoreside features and services.

Although the number of fatalities from recreational boating has decreased over the last thirty years, accidents and injuries have steadily climbed and the reported property damages have increased sevenfold to $35 million. Electronic navigational technologies will help yachtsmen safeguard their lives and their investments.

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Private Value-Added Sectors

Products developed by the U.S. government are not copyrighted. They can be freelyreproduced or modified to fit particular applications. About a dozen U.S. companies copyNOAA charts and repackage them in a variety of formats for resale. If NOAA were unable to conduct the surveys and construct the charts on which these off-shoots are based, these companies wouldn’t have the resources to produce the products they do today. The strong demand for modern navigational systems and the clear opportunities forexploiting leading-edge technologies have prompted several companies to test the waters.The new industries that will result from the continued demand will create skilled jobs,personal income and tax revenue.

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Coastal Management and Research The increasing use of geographic information systems by government agencies, coastal managers, engineers, and scientists is fueling the demand for digital data from nautical charts and marine-forecasting systems that they can customize to meet their diverse needs. Tidal datums, which define all legal boundaries along coastal areas, are becomingessential to all legislators and decision makers for coastal resource development andmanagement, transportation, recreation, public works projects and emergency planning and evacuation. By analyzing digital chart data, coastal managers can calculate how

Photogrammetric mapping of coastlines can provide information for managing cleanup activities, characterizing benthic communities and marine habitats, measuring nearshore topography, assessing environmental damage, and delineating shorelines.

far from the high-tide line real estate developersshould construct new buildings and accom-panying infrastructure to protect them againsterosion and floods. Or they can develop maps that identify wetlands, local sources of pol-lution, and other data critical for the sustainedvitality of the area’s natural resources.

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Launching a New EraReinventing NOAA’s Navigational Mission

Steadily decreasing resource levels have forced severe cutbacks in NOAA’s navigational services. At the present level of effort and using current techniques, surveying today’s critical areas would take forty years. NOAA’s modernization strategy would more than double productivity, with only a 50 percent increase in resources.

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Over the past decade, NOAA’s resources for performing its basic ongoing mission have been steadily eroding. As electronic chart systems become standard equipmenton commercial vessels and as local, national, and international authorities certify theiruse, the demand for NOAA to modernize its navigational services will rise dramatically. The challenge for NOAA will be to increase the quantity, quality and speed of deliveringthese services for the same amount of money or less than it is spending today. NOAA has devised a five-year modernization strategy that could achieve this visionand at the same time eliminate the backlogs that are inundating its staff. NOAA’s current annual budget for providing navigational services and products is approximately$50 million. Modernization would cost an additional $30 million a year over five years.Beyond that point, the efficiencies of a thoroughly electronic operation would kick in,and NOAA’s current resource levels should be sufficient to fully respond to future demand. Federal funding will constitute a major portion of NOAA’s modernization investmentportfolio. NOAA will also explore the potential for sharing costs with other federal,state, and local agencies; entering into public-private partnerships; using CooperativeResearch and Development Agreements; contracting for services; and commercializingits products. In the true spirit of reinventing government, this modernization will pavethe way for entrepreneurs to transform the business of providing navigational productsand services.

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NOAA’s Five-Year Modernization StrategyModernize surveying services - $40 M•Accelerate surveying of areas of critical need around major harbors and their approaches.•Use state-of-the-art sonar and laser survey technologies and platforms to obtain more extensive coverage with greater detail.•Ensure the quality of survey data from NOAA ships and a wide range of other sources, including contracts, cooperative projects, and partnerships.

Modernize nautical charting services - $30 M•Fully load the automated charting system data base.•Convert to digital production of paper charts and electronic chart data.•Accelerate publication of new and revised chart products.

Modernize marine forecasting services - $30 M•Develop PORTS capability in ten major U.S. ports.•Complete modernization of the National Water Level Observation Network with the Next Generation Water Level Measurement System.•Modernize tidal prediction products.•Maintain a National Water Level and Coastal Circulation Data Center.

Modernize survey fleet - $60 M•Replace the three remaining survey ships.

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Collecting Survey and Real-Time Data

State and local coastal resource managers are seeking more complete and morecurrent digital data for nautical charts in their areas and for other applications related tocoastal management. NOAA has begun to form alliances with these managers to supportthe collection of local navigational and survey data. For example, NOAA recently arranged a partnership with the New York-New JerseyPort Authority, the Sandy Hook Pilot’s Association, and the Coast Guard to providereal-time observations and forecasting at Bergen Point, the most hazardous turn in theNew York-New Jersey harbor. And through cooperative efforts with local interest groups,real-time data are now available on the water levels of the Columbia River and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Other ports and shipping lanes can be similarly servedthrough arrangements for joint operation and maintenance. NOAA will take advantage of is authority to retain private contractors to conduct hydrographic surveys to NOAA specifications. NOAA will also work closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Geological Survey to sharedata and to avoid duplication of efforts. The goal will be to ensure that all of the mostcritical areas in the contiguous United States are surveyed within five years of imple-menting the modernization strategy (ten years for Alaska). At the same time, NOAAwill maintain an in-house, state-of-the-art capability for collecting hydrographic datato enable it to set standards, train personnel, develop and test advanced technology, and meet national requirements.

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Disseminating NOAA’s Nautical Products

To satisfy user demands better and more efficiently, NOAA will explore partnershipswith private companies that will print, publish, and distribute its nautical charts and information products. By using market forces and creating new business opportunities,NOAA will ensure that the public’s needs for navigational products are met efficiently.

“The key to successfully responding to these challenges is forNOAA to focus its nautical charting program activities on the tasksassociated with building and managing the nautical information database and to seek partnerships with the private sector and otherfederal and state agencies in fulfilling the other components of thenautical charting mission: collection of survey data and productdissemination.” --National Research Council

Fully developing partnerships for disseminating NOAA’s nautical products will mostlikely require new tools to protect intellectual property rights. Because NOAA may lackthe legal authority to license its data, in most cases legislation would have to be enactedto encourage the private-sector investments needed to produce new products by giving them exclusivity or protection. NOAA would also need to develop processes for certifyingdata products for navigational uses. Several possible complementary routes exist withinthis broad approach, including:

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•Copyrighting nautical charts.•Supplying raw digital data to private printing ventures, and collecting royalties or license fees based on privately copyrighted product sales.•Changing the cost recovery law to allow NOAA to retain the funds recovered from the sale of charts and other products and invest them in program development.•Obtaining royalties from the dissemination of products developed through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements.

NOAA has signed an agreement with BSB Electronic Charts to perform cooperative research on the development of electronic nautical charts, systems, software, and other related matters. Shown here is a prototype for the raster chart image that BSB expects to commercialize upon completion of joint NOAA/BSB research and development work.

Managing the Nautical InformationData Base

The keystone of NOAA’s modernizationstrategy will be the design, construction, andmaintenance of NOAA’s master nautical database. With additional resources, this job can becompleted within five years. After that point,the data base can be maintained with existingresource levels by using the automated systemsnow being developed. The data base will support the efficient and timely production of new and revised charts

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and data products that are fully consistent with international units, standards, and qualitylevels. Water-level and current sensors around the nation will be connected through networks to a National Water Level and Coastal Circulation Data Center. This will ensure the consistency and quality of data and forecasts that are vital to today’s and tomorrow’s marine commerce.

Digitizing nautical survey datafor incorporation into the chartingdata base is highly labor intensive.To date, only 5 percent of the datafor NOAA’s suite of 1,000 nautical charts has been loaded into the data base.

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Sustainable DevelopmentThrough Modernization

NOAA’s mission to provide navigational services began in 1807, when ThomasJefferson formed the Survey of the Coast. As technological break-throughs have revolutionized marine navigation over the years, NOAA’s strategy for fulfilling thismission has simultaneously evolved. While maritime navigation will always be hazardous, new electronic technologiespromise to help mariners significantly reduce the risk of accidents and spills. By over-hauling America’s marine transportation infrastructure, these technologies will heightenthe competitiveness of U.S. ports and the shipping industry and will inject new vitalityinto the nation’s economy. And they will be critical in supporting the environmental

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stewardship roles of coastal zone planners, regulatory officials, and researchers as they work to ensure the safe, sustainable, and efficient development of our coastal and ocean resources.

A clean and safe environment, together withsustained economic security, are the mostconcrete manifestations of what all Americansdeserve. They are the goals of sustainabledevelopment.

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This brochure was prepared by the National Ocean Service (NOS), the primaryfederal civilian agency responsible for the observation, measurement, assessmentand management of the nation’s coastal and ocean areas. NOS serves as the trusteefor these resources and provides products and services that protect millions of lives,billions of dollars in property, and irreplaceable natural resources.