Nautical publications is a technical term used in maritime circles describing a set of publications, either published by national governments or by commercial and professional organisations, for use in safe navigation of ships, boats, and similar vessels. Other publications might cover topics such as seamanship and cargo operations. In the UK, the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, the Witherby Publishing Group and the Nautical Institute provide numerous navigational publications, including charts, publications on how to navigate and passage planning publications.[1][2] In the US, publications are issued by the US government and US Coast Guard.
The marine environment is subject to frequent change and the latest publications should always be used, especially when passage planning.
Hydrographic officers who produce of nautical publications also provide a system to inform mariners of changes that effect the chart. In the US and the UK, corrections and notifications of new editions are provided by various governmental agencies by way of Notice to Mariners, Local Notice to Mariners, Summary of Corrections, and Broadcast Notice to Mariners. Radio broadcasts give advance notice of urgent corrections.
A convenient way to keep track of corrections is with a Chart and Publication Correction Record system, either electronic or paper-based. Using this system, the navigator does not immediately update every publication in the library when a new Notice to Mariners arrives, instead creating a 'card' for every chart and noting the correction on this 'card'. When the time comes to use the publication, the navigator pulls the publication and its card, and makes the indicated corrections to the publication. This system ensures that every publication is properly corrected prior to use.
Various and diverse methods exist for the correction of electronic nautical publications.[3]