A new interactive mapping tool is now available for the public to see where marine fisheries rules are in effect in North Carolina waters.
The state Division of Marine Fisheries launched the Common North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission Rules application to replace the old, static maps and is useful to both commercial and recreational fishermen, the division announced Monday.
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The following are among the areas included in the interactive maps:
- Anadromous fish spawning areas.
- Demarcations of coastal, joint and inland fishing waters.
- Crab spawning sanctuaries.
- Designated pot areas.
- Fish nursery areas.
- Gill Net Attendance areas.
- ITP management areas.
- Mechanical clam harvest areas.
- Military danger zones and restricted areas.
- Sea turtle sanctuaries.
- Striped bass management areas.
- Shrimp trawl prohibited areas.
- Trawl net prohibited areas.
The user can layer maps and zoom in and out on specific water bodies, measure by distance and area, and find latitude and longitude. The maps can be viewed and printed from a computer screen or viewed on a smartphone.
The Common Rules app is the latest marine fisheries interactive mapping tools that can be found on a geospatial hub on the division’s website. The geospatial hub is a one-stop webpage where the public can link to all the Division of Marine Fisheries interactive maps available to the public, including:
- Artificial reef Interactive map.
- North Carolina weigh stations and carcass collection locations.
- Shellfish leasing tool.
- Shellfish sanitation temporary closure public viewer.
The interactive maps and geospatial hub are part of ongoing efforts by the Division of Marine Fisheries to make fisheries information more accessible to the public, officials said.
