NOAA ENCŪ NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION US5MD31M - PATUXENT RIVER INDEX: NOTE A HORIZONTAL DATUM SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION AIDS TO NAVIGATION CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS) CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES RADAR REFLECTORS WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER AUTHORITIES SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS POLLUTION REPORTS NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS ADMINISTRATION AREA WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES OYSTER AQUACULTURE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION COMMENTS REQUESTED 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 regulation 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. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 3 for important supplemental information. AIDS TO NAVIGATION Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation. 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. 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. 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. 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. AUTHORITIES Hydrography and topography by the National Ocean Service, Coast Survey, with additional data from the Corps of Engineers, Geological Survey and U.S. Coast Guard. 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. 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). 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. Heathsville, VA WXM-57 162.400 MHz Salisbury, MD KEC-92 162.475 MHz 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. 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 . OYSTER AQUACULTURE Oyster bed aquaculture leases may exist within the limits of this chart. 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 than the soundings shown. For more information, contact the local department of natural resources. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Additional information can be obtained at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov . 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/ . END OF FILE