Notice of the National Ocean Service's Discontinuation of the Printing and Distribution of Book-Form Tide and Tidal Current Prediction Tables as a Standard Nautical Product

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Notice of the National Ocean Service's Discontinuation of the

Printing and Distribution of Book-Form Tide and Tidal Current

Prediction Tables as a Standard Nautical Product

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce (DOC).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National

Ocean Service is announcing that, beginning with the 1996 edition, NOS

will no longer print and distribute book-form Tide and Tidal Current

Prediction Tables as a standard nautical product.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Richard Sillcox, (301) 713-2812, or (202) 482-2152.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 33 U.S.C. 883a-883j, NOS is authorized

to conduct tide and current observations, prepare analyses and

predictions of the tide and current data, and disseminate to the public

such data and information resulting from the observations and analyses.

Consistent with this authority, NOS had annually printed and

distributed book-form Tide and Tidal Current Prediction Tables (Tables)

as a standard nautical product.

NOS is experiencing a shortage of funds to print and distribute the

Tables. In addition, the role of the NOS with

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regard to the publication of the Tables is redefined to be that of

maintaining and updating the tidal prediction database from domestic

and international sources and generating the annual predictions and

associated information. Therefore, beginning with the 1996 edition of

those Tables, NOS will no longer print and distribute book-form Tables

as a standard nautical product.

The titles of the NOS publications affected are:

``Tide Tables 1996--East Coast of North and South America including

Greenland'';

``Tide Tables 1996--West Coast of North and South America including

the Hawaiian Islands'';

``Tide Tables 1996--Central and Western Pacific Ocean and Indian

Ocean'';

``Tide Tables 1996--Europe and West Coast of Africa including the

Mediterranean Sea'';

``Tidal Current Tables 1996--Atlantic Coast of North America'';

``Tidal Current Tables 1996--Pacific Coast of North America and

Asia'';

``Regional Tide and Tidal Current Tables 1996--New York Harbor to

Chesapeake Bay''; and

``Supplemental Tidal Predictions--Anchorage, Nikiski, Seldovia, and

Valdez, Alaska--1996''.

Although NOS will no longer print and distribute the Tables in a

book format, a complete set of Tables will be made available to all who

request it as a special compilation of prediction information on CD-

ROM. The CD-ROM will contain camera-ready PostScript page-images. There

will be a fee charged for production and distribution of any requested

special compilation. Although available to all who request it, the CD-

ROM vehicle may also be used by private printers who wish to print in

book-form the full set of Tables for distribution to retailers and the

general public. The annual predictions and associated information will

be made available on the same schedule as followed in previous years.

In addition to the CD-ROM, two new vehicles will be provided for

obtaining predictions. First, for the approximately 3700 domestic tide

stations, a 3-day window of predictions for any date in 1995 and 1996

will be offered on the NOS, Coastal and Estuarine Oceanography Branch,

Tidal Information Distribution and Education System (TIDES) electronic

bulletin board which is accessible by telephone modem (301-713-4492, N-

8-1, up to 9600 baud). Second, for domestic tidal reference stations,

predictions covering a 4-day period beginning on the day of inquiry

will be available on the NOS, Coastal and Estuarine Oceanography

Branch, Mosaic Homepage on the Internet (http://www-ceob.nos.noaa.gov).

These two new communication pathways will also be used to continuously

inform customers when prediction products become available or finalized

during the year. Further, NOS will continue to provide tide and tidal

current prediction and associated information on the media and in the

time-frames with which customers have been familiar from past

experience with NOS.

Thus, all requests for prediction and associated information

continue to be welcome. Beginning immediately, NOS is accepting

prediction data requests via two new communication pathways. The first

is the TIDES electronic bulletin board. The second is the NOS, Coastal

and Estuarine Oceanography Branch, World Wide Web Homepage.

As NOS is no longer printing and distributing the Tables in book-

form, the NOS Nautical Chart Sales Agents will no longer obtain the

Tables in book-form from the NOS Distribution Branch. Instead, they may

obtain quantities of the Tables for resale to the public from various

private printers and distributors. NOS is aware of a small number of

vendors who have shown interest in printing and distributing the Tables

in book-form. NOS requests any and all parties who may be interested in

printing and distributing the Tables in book-form to contact NOS.

NOS has been in contact with the U.S. Coast Guard concerning 33 CFR

Part 164 (Navigation and Safety Rules). Questions concerning that

regulation should be addressed to Chief, Navigation Rules Branch, G-

NVT-3, United States Coast Guard, Washington, DC 20593, telephone 202-

267-0416.

NOS is publishing this notice consistent with section 8a(6)(j) of

Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130. Anyone with questions

or comments regarding the above subject or private printers and

distributors wishing more information should write, fax or e-mail to:

NOAA, National Ocean Service Attn: Tidal Predictions, N/OES33, 1305

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, fax 301-713-4501, (http://

www-ceob.nos.noaa.gov).

Dated: July 31, 1995.

David Evans,

Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal

Zone Management.

[FR Doc. 95-19302 Filed 8-4-95; 8:45 am]

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