To help make navigation safer, you must carry the following for each area you plan to boat in:
•the latest edition of the largest scale chart (when available); and
•the latest edition of related documents and publications, including Notices to Mariners, Sailing Directions, tide and current tables, and the List of Lights, Buoys and Fog Signals.
If you are operating a boat under 100 gross tons, you do not have to carry these charts, documents and publications on board as long as you know:
•the location and type of charted: #9702;shipping routes;
#9702;lights, buoys and marks; and
#9702;boating hazards; and •the area’s usual boating conditions such as tides, currents, ice and weather patterns. Before heading out, you should make sure you know:
•how to plot a course;
•how to determine your position; and
•how to use: #9702;a compass along with nautical charts;
#9702;electronic navigation equipment; and
#9702;references such as tide tables, Canada’s buoyage system, navigation lights and signals, Notices to Mariners and Sailing Directions.
Avoid potential danger by steering clear of rapids and currents, and be sure not to obstruct commercial navigation in commercial shipping channels.
The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) is the official source for navigational publications, raster BSBs and vector Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) in Canada’s waters. Under the Charts and Nautical Publications Regulations made pursuant to the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, boaters must use charts issued officially or on the authority of the CHS. You can buy official paper and digital charts from authorized chart dealers. For more information or to find the nearest authorized chart dealer, visit www.charts.gc.ca or contact the CHS at 1-866-546-3613 or at chsinfo@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.