"US to stop printing nautical charts"

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday that to save money, the government will stop turning out the traditional brownish, heavy paper maps [nautical charts] after mid-April.

The agency will still chart the water for rocks, shipwrecks and other hazards, but sailors, boaters and fishermen will have to use private on-demand printing, PDFs or electronic maps to see the information, said Capt. Shep Smith, head of NOAA's marine chart division.

"Think of them as the roadmap of the ocean," said Smith, who grew up with charts of Penobscot Bay on his bedroom walls in Maine. "The navigational charts tell you what's under the water, which is critical for navigation."

Sea dogs say they will miss the charts, which also get used as decorations.

"It's the nautical history, you know, pirates and ships," said Newburyport, Mass., harbormaster Paul Hogg, who has a chart on his office wall. "It seems more nautical. There's just kind of, like, a feel to it."

There should be a historical feel to it, because the idea was Thomas Jefferson's. He asked for a survey of the U.S. coast in 1807, and ever since, a government agency has been charting American waters. The soon-to-be-eliminated maps date to 1862.

At New York Nautical, store manager James "Smitty" Smith saw the end of the old-fashioned maps coming. He sells far more of the on-demand maps on the lighter weight, whiter paper.

But personally, especially for decorations, he prefers the old maps because they are "more soothing on the eyes."

"There must be some art value in them because a lot of people love them," he said.

AP via myfoxny.com