[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 151 (Monday, August 7, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40160-40161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19302]



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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 

[[Page 40161]]
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]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-M