Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement
Meetings are held twice per year on the 2nd Friday in November and March in Astoria, OR.
Notice: Towlanes were updated on November 1, 2019. If you are using maps prior to that date you will need to download the most recent version.
Subscribe to the Crabber/Towboat Lane Mailing List
Click Here to Explore an Interactive Map of vessel traffic in the towlanes
Created by Leslie Nguyen, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs – University of Washington, 7/2022
Current Towlanes (Last Updated November 2019)
Changes made to the most recent charts (PDF)
Meeting Notes
- Crabber/Towboat Meeting Minutes, November 12, 2022
- Crabber/Towboat Meeting Minutes, November 1, 2022
- Crabber/Towboat Meeting Minutes, March 11, 2022
- Crabber/Towboat Meeting Minutes, November 13, 2020
- Commercial Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement Meeting, March 13, 2020
- Commercial Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement Meeting, November 13, 2015
- Commercial Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement Meeting, March 13, 2015
- Crabber/Towboat Pre-Season Meeting Summary, November 14, 2014
- Commercial Crabber/Towboat Lane Agreement Meeting, March 2013
If you require the towlane chart data in printed form, please contact Jenna Keeton, Fisheries Specialist, 206.543.7009, keetonj@uw.edu. If you have trouble accessing the data, please contact Karen Morrill-McClure, Computer Systems Administrator, 206.685.0171, karenmmc@uw.edu.
Data Files
For your convenience, Washington Sea Grant has made available electronic data files for commercial crabber and towboat towlane charts.
Please note:
- The following links provide access to data files; depending on application, they will be binary (i.e., .zip) or text (i.e., .txt). You must download the appropriate file (Maptech, Nobeltec, WindPlot, etc.), decompress if it is a .zip format, and import it into the appropriate program.
- Most contemporary operating systems come with file decompression applications, enabling the downloaded file to either open automatically or open upon double-clicking it. You can also obtain a version of the program required to decompress these files online (some are free; others are fee-based).
- Please download the data loading instructions here.
| Software | File |
| P-Sea WindPlot II | Download (23 Kb) |
| Rose Point Coastal Explorer | Download (244 Kb) |
| Nobeltec Visual Navigation Suite | Download (236 Kb) |
| Maptech Offshore Navigator | Download (35 Kb) |
| OLEX | Download (31 Kb) |
| GLOBE | Download (17 Kb) |
| TimeZero | Download (28 Kb) |
| KML | Download (8 Kb) |
| Towlane Shapefiles | Download (15 Kb) |
| Towlane Interactive Map | Download (1 Mb) |
List of coordinates for summer and year-round lanes
Summer towlane coordinates (XLSX)
Year-round towlane coordinates (XLSX)
Advisory towlane coordinates (XLSX)
†DISCLAIMER
No Guarantees: While Washington Sea Grant has made every attempt to verify that the information provided was accurate at the time the files were created, no express guarantees are made of the information herein. No contracts, implied or otherwise, are made through providing this information. For any questions about this information, please contact Jenna Keeton, keetonj@uw.edu or 206.543.7009.
Use At Own Risk: Use this material at your own risk. Washington Sea Grant is not responsible for the consequences arising from the use of this information. The information is provided “AS IS”, and Washington Sea Grant makes no claims regarding its quality, usefulness or accuracy.
Available Now
Data files are now available on a USB thumb drive (free of charge). You can also download the files directly using the links above. To obtain a USB thumb drive, please contact Jenna Keeton (206.543.7009). Please be sure to download the data loading instructions (text file).
If you have trouble accessing the data, please contact Karen Morrill-McClure, Computer Systems Administrator, 206.685.0171, karenmmc@uw.edu.