To comply with internationally agreed practices, Canada and the United States have agreed to eliminate overlapping coverage of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs).

The first area affected by the changes includes Strait of Juan de Fuca, Haro Strait and Boundary Pass. Throughout 2011 and 2012, the United States and Canada will continue to resolve ENC overlaps in the Atlantic and Great Lakes regions. This new ENC coverage scheme will result in each country changing their areas of coverage, so that only one country’s ENC would be available for any given area.

A Notice to Mariner will be issued when the revised ENCs are available to the public.

Changes comply with international principles

The U.S. and Canada are making these changes to comply with the International Hydrographic Organization Worldwide Electronic Navigational Chart Database (WEND) principles. Those principles include several provisions.

• ENC duplication should be avoided. Only one country should be responsible for ENC production in any given area.
• Responsibility for the production of ENC can be delegated in whole or in part by a country to another country, which then becomes the producing country in the considered area.
• When the production limits are the official limits for national jurisdiction waters, commercial rights shall belong to the ENC producing country.