US Wrecks and Obstructions

In 1981, NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) implemented the Automated Wreck and Obstruction Information System (AWOIS) to assist in planning hydrographic survey operations and to catalog and store a substantial volume of reported wrecks and obstructions that are considered navigational hazards within U.S. coastal waters. As part of the hydrographic survey planning process, these records are reviewed and those records which require additional field investigation are assigned to specific field units for verification. The results of these investigations eventually become part of the AWOIS record so that a permanent history of a wreck or obstruction is always available.

AWOIS is not a comprehensive record of wrecks in any particular area. There are wrecks in AWOIS that do not appear on the nautical chart and there are wrecks on the nautical chart that do not appear in AWOIS. Updates to AWOIS are ongoing; however, it will never completely address every known or reported wreck.

For more information regarding this data and the definitions of the symbols please reference the publication link under additional information.

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