FWC promotes boating access with new database

For immediate release: January 27, 2012

Contact: Katie Purcell, 850-459-6585

Photo: Go to MyFWC.com/News and click on the headline for this story.

FWC promotes boating access with new database

            The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) introduced a new feature on its website this week. Users can now view and search a database of Florida boat ramps.

            “Providing safe, convenient access to Florida’s waterways is one of our goals,” said Pat Harrell, the FWC’s Boating Access Coordinator. “This database is designed to help keep boaters informed about facilities that are currently available.”

Boaters can visit the Public Boat Ramp Finder site to locate and obtain details for more than 1,600 publicly accessible boat ramps.

            “People can look for boat ramps within a certain county, on a lake they’d like to visit or even search for boat ramps near a specific street address or GPS coordinates,” Harrell said. “The database provides a map, details and often photos of the ramps.”

The database was created from an inventory conducted for the Statewide Boating Access Inventory and Economic Assessment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provided funding through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration’s Boating Access Program. Working with boating access management partners, including Florida’s counties and the Department of Environmental Protection, the FWC identified and indexed approximately 3,440 boat ramps around the state.

To access the database, visit MyFWC.com/Boating. To help the FWC improve and update this database, the public is asked to email BoatRamps@MyFWC.com to report errors or new information.

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