The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association announced yesterday that it will cease to print nautical charts in April of 2014 as a cost saving maneuver. NOAA will continue to chart the nations waterways but only publish the charts digitally. If you still want a physical chart you will have to buy it from a private shops, or print it out yourself with this handy guide from Sailing Anarchy. According to Associated Press, sales of NOAA charts had been steadily dropping due to the availability of more up to date charts printed by private businesses. Nonetheless, NOAA still sold around 60,000 4x3 foot charts a year for $20 apiece, the same price it cost to print them.
Is this a sign of the times with everything that was once printed out becoming digital, or a negative consequence of the sequester that has made deep cuts into many federal government programs?