OVERVIEW

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.

Display each OFBA site interactively with the Fishing and Boating Access Sites Viewer.

This point layer contains 243 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.

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.

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.

Last Updated 4/14/2009
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