NOAA ENCŪ NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION US4MD40M - POTOMAC RIVER INDEX: NOTE A HORIZONTAL DATUM AIDS TO NAVIGATION POLLUTION REPORTS CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS) SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES COMMENTS REQUESTED ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AUTHORITIES CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES CAUTION - DREDGED AREAS RADAR REFLECTORS NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS RACING BUOYS SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS CAUTION - ALL CRAFT CAUTION - SMALL CRAFT CAUTION - WARNING CONCERNING LARGE VESSELS RULES OF THE ROAD (ABRIDGED) MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS OYSTER AQUACULTURE TRAFFIC SEPARATION SCHEME ADMINISTRATION AREA SPEED REGULATION NOTES: NOTE A Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2, U.S. Coast Pilot 3. Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning the regulations may be obtained at the Office of the Commander, 5th Coast Guard District in Portsmouth, Virginia or at the Office of the District Engineer, Corps of Engineers in Baltimore, Maryland. Refer to charted regulations section numbers. HORIZONTAL DATUM The NOAA ENC references the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS-84). For charting purposes, the horizontal control of the current realization of WGS-84 is functionally equivalent to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2020 (ITRF2020) at the meter level for charts at scales of 1:5,000 or smaller. AIDS TO NAVIGATION Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation. POLLUTION REPORTS Report all spills of oil and hazardous substances to the National Response Center via 1-800-424-8802 (toll free), or to the nearest U.S. Coast Guard facility if telephone communication is impossible (33 CFR 153). CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS) Limitations on the use of radio signals as aids to marine navigation can be found in the U.S. Coast Guard Light Lists and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Publication 117. Radio direction-finder bearings to commercial broadcasting stations are subject to error and should be used with caution. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 3 for important supplemental information. CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES Temporary changes or defects in aids to navigation are not indicated. See Local Notice to Mariners. During some winter months or when endangered by ice, certain aids to navigation are replaced by other types or removed. For details see U.S. Coast Guard Light List. WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation, particularly on floating aids. See U.S. Coast Guard Light List and U.S. Coast Pilot for details. WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES Real-time water levels, tide predictions, and tidal current predictions are available on the internet from NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/water_level_info.html and https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/currents_info.html . COMMENTS REQUESTED NOAA encourages users to submit inquiries, discrepancies, or comments about this chart via NOAA's ASSIST tool at https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist/ . ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information can be obtained at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov. AUTHORITIES Hydrography and topography by the National Ocean Service, Coast Survey, with additional data from the Corps of Engineers, Geological Survey, U.S. Coast Guard, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES Additional uncharted submarine pipelines and submarine cables may exist within the area of this chart. Not all submarine pipelines and submarine cables are required to be buried, and those that were originally buried may have become exposed. Mariners should use extreme caution when operating vessels in depths of water comparable to their draft in areas where pipelines and cables may exist, and when anchoring, dragging, or trawling. Covered wells may be marked by lighted or unlighted buoys. CAUTION - DREDGED AREAS Improved channels are subject to shoaling, particularly at the edges. RADAR REFLECTORS Radar reflectors have been placed on many floating aids to navigation. Individual radar reflector identification on these aids has been omitted from this chart. NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS The NOAA Weather Radio stations listed below provide continuous weather broadcasts. The reception range is typically 20 to 40 nautical miles from the antenna site, but can be as much as 100 nautical miles for stations at high elevations. Fredericksburg, VA WZ-2527 162.425 MHz Heathsville, VA WXM-57 162.400 MHz Manassas, VA KHB-36 162.550 MHz RACING BUOYS Racing buoys within the limits of this chart are not shown hereon. Information may be obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard District Offices as racing and other private buoys are not all listed in the U.S. Coast Guard Light List. SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS During the boating season small-craft warnings will be displayed from sunrise to sunset on Maryland Marine Police Cruisers while underway in Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries. CAUTION - ALL CRAFT All craft should avoid areas where the skin divers flag, a red square with a diagonal white stripe, is displayed. CAUTION - SMALL CRAFT Small craft should stay clear of large commercial and government vessels even if small craft have the right-of-way. CAUTION - WARNING CONCERNING LARGE VESSELS The "Rules of the Road" state that recreational boats shall not impede the passage of a vessel that can navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway. Large vessels may appear to move slowly due to their large size but actually transit at speeds in excess of 12 knots, requiring a great distance in which to maneuver or stop. A large vessel's superstructure may block the wind with the result that sailboats and sailboards may unexpectedly find themselves unable to maneuver. Bow and stern waves can be hazardous to small vessels. Large vessels may not be able to see small craft close to their bows. RULES OF THE ROAD (ABRIDGED) Motor less craft have the right-of-way in almost all cases. Sailing vessels and motorboats less than twenty meters / sixty-five feet in length shall not hamper, in a narrow channel, the safe passage of a vessel which can navigate only inside that channel. A motorboat being overtaken has the right-of-way. Motorboats approaching head to head or nearly so should pass port to port. When Motorboats approach each other at right angles or obliquely, the boat on the right has the right-of-way in most cases. Motorboats must keep to the right in narrow channels when safe and practicable. Mariners are urged to become familiar with the complete text of the Rules of the Road in U.S. Coast Guard publication "Amalgamated International & U.S. Inland Navigation Rules". MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TELEPHONE NUMBER OFFICE HOURS Baltimore, MD/ *(703) 260-0107 24 Hours daily Washington, DC Wakefield, VA *(757) 899-4200 24 Hours daily *Recorded OYSTER AQUACULTURE Oyster bed aquaculture leases may exist within the limits. Mariners are cautioned that numerous markers may exist and watermen may be active in the area. Caution should be exercised when navigating in or near these areas, not to anchor or ground, in order to avoid damage to the beds. Depths may be shallower then the soundings shown. For more information, contact the local department of natural resources. TRAFFIC SEPARATION SCHEME Recommended traffic lanes have been established 2.8 kilometers / 1.5 miles east of Smith Point Light. ADMINISTRATION AREA The entire extent of this ENC cell falls within the limits of an Administration Area. This area covers land, internal waters, and territorial sea. The territorial sea is a maritime zone over which the United States exercises sovereignty extending to the airspace as well as to its bed and subsoil. For more information, please refer to the Coast Pilot. SPEED REGULATION No vessel shall be propelled or operated at a greater rate than nine kilometers / six statute miles per hour in the Potomac River upstream from the Arlington Memorial Bridge, in the Washington Channel upstream from Haines Point, in the Anacostia River upstream from Greenleaf Point to the Benning Road Bridge, nor within or bordering any of the anchorage areas; nor shall any vessel be propelled or operated at a greater rate than sixteen kilometers / ten statute miles per hour when passing the wharf area of Alexandria, Virginia, except in case of emergency. END OF FILE