Notice to Mariners

A Notice to Mariners advises mariners of important matters affecting navigational safety, including new hydrographic information, changes in channels and aids to navigation, and other important data.

One example is the American publication made available weekly by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency NGA, prepared jointly with the National Ocean Service (NOS) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The information in the "Notice to Mariners" is formatted to simplify the correction of paper charts, Sailing Directions, Light Lists, and other publications produced by DMAHTC, NOS, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Information for the "Notice to Mariners" is contributedby: the Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/TopographicCenter (Department of Defense) for watersoutside the territorial limits of the United States; NationalOcean Service (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
Department of Commerce), which is chargedwith surveying and charting the coasts and harbors of theUnited States and its territories; the U.S. Coast Guard (Department of Transportation) which is responsible for the safety of life at sea and the establishment and operation of aids to navigation; and the Army Corps of Engineers (Department of Defense), which is charged with theimprovement of rivers and harbors of the United States. Inaddition, important contributions are made by foreign hydrographicoffices and cooperating observers of allnationalities.

The Notice consists of a page of Hydrograms listingimportant items in the notice, a chart correctionsection organized by ascending chart number, a publicationscorrection section, and a summary of broadcastnavigation warnings and miscellaneous information. It is the responsibility of users to decide which of theircharts and publications require correction. Mariners are requested to cooperate in the correction ofcharts and publications by reporting all discrepancies betweenpublished information and conditions actuallyobserved and by recommending appropriate improvements. A reporting form is provided in the back of each"Notice to Mariners".

Number 1 of each year contains importantinformation on a variety of subjects which supplementsinformation not usually found on charts and in navigationalpublications. This information is published as Special Noticeto Mariners Paragraphs. Additional items consideredof interest to the mariner are also included in this Notice.

Over 60 countries which produce nautical charts alsoproduce a notice to mariners. About one third of these areweekly, another third are bi-monthly or monthly, and therest irregularly issued according to need. For example, the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office issues weekly updates. Much of the datain the U.S. "Notice to Mariners" is obtained from these foreignnotices.

ummary of Corrections

A close companion to the "Notice to Mariners" is the Summary of Corrections. The "Summary" is published in five volumes. Each volume covers a major portion of the earth including several chart regions and many subregions. Volume 5 also includes special charts and publications correctedby the "Notice to Mariners". Since the Summaries contain cumulative corrections, any chart, regardless of its print date, can be corrected with the proper volume of the Summary and all subsequent "Notice to Mariners".

ource

The text of this article originated from sections 419 and 420 of The American Practical Navigator, a document produced by the government of the United States of America.

ee also

*American Practical Navigator
*Buoy
*Coast Pilots
*Light List
*List of Lights
*Local Notice to Mariners
*Sailing Directions

External links

* [http://www.irbs.com/bowditch/pdf/chapt04.pdf Chapter 4: Nautical Publications] - from the online edition of Nathaniel Bowditch's "American Practical Navigator"
* [http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/maritime/ Notice to Mariners Online]