December 2012
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Overview

Sample of Office of Fishing and Boating Access Sites
Click to see the full size image.

Massachusetts is blessed with over 1200 miles of seashore and hundreds of lakes, ponds, and streams. The Office of Fishing and Boating Access (OFBA) in the Massachusetts Department of Fish & Game (DFG) is charged with providing access to these many waterways. Presently, the agency oversees boat and canoe launch sites at more than 200 coastal and inland locations in Massachusetts.

Visit http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/pab/pab_facilities.htm to view a Table and Maps of OFBA Facilities.

This point layer contains 262 sites. The principal source for this layer has been Public Access to the Waters of Massachusetts, published by the OFBA. Additional sites have been digitized from USGS topographic quadrangles.

In ArcSDE the layer is named OFBA_PT. With the January 2008 release it replaces the Public Access Board Sites (PAB_PT) layer.

Attributes

The datalayer has a point attribute table with the following items:
Item Name Description
PENDING Page in book
DATE_ENTER Date entered in Public Access to the Waters of Massachusetts
PAGE Page in Public Access to the Waters of Massachusetts
MAINTRESP Maintenance and management responsibility
RAMPTYPE Launch ramp type
NOLANES Number of lanes
NORAMPS Number of ramps
NOPRKSP Number of parking spaces
CONDITION Condition of ramp
FEE Fee required? (some records are null; data not yet complete)
STKPRMT Sticker or permit required? (some records are null; data not yet complete)
RESTRKT Restrictions? (some records are null; data not yet complete)
COMMENT_ Comment field
FACNAME Facility name
TOWN_ID Town ID
TOWN Town Name
QUADS_ID USGS Quad ID
QUAD_NAME USGS Quad name
DOUBLEQUAD USGS Double quad name
FACIL_TYPE
 		Type of facility:
A GENERAL ACCESS: Concrete boat ramp and parking for boat trailers.
B FISHERMAN ACCESS: Small concrete ramp, concrete pad ramp system or gravel ramp designed for smaller boats and parking for boat trailers.
C CARTOP ACCESS: Access to lakes, ponds and rivers for small boats, canoes and kayaks.
D CANOE ACCESS: Access to rivers most suitable for canoes and kayaks.
E SPORT FISHING PIER: Pier that provides fishing area for recreational anglers - barrier free.
F SHORE FISHING AREA: Minimally improved property that provides shore fishing access.
An asterisk ( * ) after a code indicates coastal access for all facility types.
SITEMAPSIZ Size of site map
PONDMAPNAM Filename of pond map
FISH_CODES Fishing codes:
1 Trout 10 Striped bass
2 Largemouth Bass 11 Bluefish
3 Smallmouth Bass 12 Bonito
4 Northern Pike 13 False albacore
5 Tiger muskee 14 Tautog
6 White perch 15 Fluke
7 Pickerel 16 Cod
8 Black crappie 17 Flounder
9 Walleye 18 Squeteague - weak fish
OFBA_ID Unique site ID assigned by the OFBA. See http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/pab/pab_facilities.htm for details.
SITEMAPNAM Name of site map
COASTACCES Indicates Coastal Access.
FACILTYPE1 Type of Facility: See FACIL_TYPE for details about the codes.
FACILTYPE2 Type of Facility: See FACIL_TYPE for details about the codes.
BARRIERFRE Barrier free - No barrier to access for handicapped people.

Maintenance

Maintained by DFG GIS program in cooperation with the Office of Fishing and Boating Access.

DFG GIS added five points in September 2008. Minor edits were made to attributes in March 2009. Four fields were added in April 2009. Edits in May 2011 increased the point total to 257. Five more points were added in December 2012.

Last Updated 12/10/2012