Senate bill proposes a public website for federal waterway data
An enhanced satellite-generated image of the Mississippi Delta from 2001. Callista Images/Getty Images
New legislation from Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Angus King, I-Maine, would direct the Commerce Department to make “geographic information system data” on federal waterways available on a public website.
New Senate legislation would help recreational anglers and boaters comply with often complex webs of regulatory limitations by expanding public access to the government’s geospatial data on restrictions related to federal waterways.
The bill, known as the MAPOceans Act, would “provide for the standardization, publication and accessibility of data relating to public outdoor recreational use of federal waterways.” The legislation was officially introduced on Feb. 8 by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Angus King, I-Maine, but was not publicly released until Wednesday.
Within 30 months of the bill’s enactment, the Commerce secretary would be required to develop and adopt standards “with respect to the collection and dissemination of geospatial data relating to public outdoor recreational use of federal waterways and federal fishing restriction areas.”
The Commerce Department would also be directed to make relevant “geographic information system data” on federal waterways available on an online platform within four years of the bill’s passage, including navigation information, bathymetric data and depth charts.
This new public website would be required, in part, to include information on areas of federal waterways that have various restrictions, the types of craft permitted to operate in those waterways and the geographic boundaries of federal fishing restriction areas.
The bill has already received support from several recreational advocacy groups, including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas.
“Navigating the complex web of fishing regulations, anchoring limitations and restricted areas can be challenging for America’s anglers and boaters,” Mike Leonard, vice president of government affairs at the American Sportfishing Association, said in a statement, adding that the bill “would help Americans access marine waters with more confidence, ensuring that recreational information is easily accessible through marine electronics, mapping apps and online platforms.”