We are going through the difficult and lengthy process of zoning our local ocean, based on a variety of concerns. Some include protection of spawning areas for commercially important species, such as cod, haddock, flounder and scallop. Others are strictly to reduce our catch of adult fishes. Others still are fledgling attempts to protect specific areas that contain rare corals and other non-commercial taxa. Some among our citizens would have areas that were left to be 'wild', much like our National Park system, where man's activities are to be kept to a minimum.

This project was conceived while at sea after watching two skippers agree on where they would work, one a 100+' vessel with 1300hp and the other a 35' lobster style vessel setting out hooks. They quickly agreed on mutually satisfactory areas without argument or benefit of government. It has been apparent for many years that such unofficial gear areas are in place though certainly without capability of enforcement. This project is a first attempt to have fishermen from across the region document these areas.

The application is set up to have clickable on/off buttons for the various layers so that the viewer can select multiple files independently. This is an early version, works only with Internet Explorer 5 and up on any platform. If Netscape 6 and up is used, page will display but buttons are non-functional at this time. Modifying the javascript for Netscape is the next scheduled task.