Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, Erie County Environment and Planning Department Commissioner Thomas R. Hersey Jr., members of the Erie County Fishery Advisory Board and various community partners gathered today at the Niawanda Park Pavilion in the City of Tonawanda to announce recent updates made to the existing “Erie and Niagara Hotspot Fishing Map” online application and demonstrate the new features that will help identify additional fishing locations in Western New York.

“What we now have made available to the public is a user-friendly internet mapping tool that helps promote the tremendous Great Lakes fishing resources we have along the shoreline of Erie, Niagara and Chautauqua counties,” said Poloncarz. “We recognized the need to establish an online presence that reaches out to our more technologically advanced population and we believe in the future we will be able to further enhance this resource with real time fishing reports and other state-of-the-art communication tolls that will further enhance the enjoyment of the Western New York fishing experience.”

An agreement Erie County entered into last fall with MRF Geosystems led to the construction of the internet mapping tool, which was evaluated by local fishing captains to measure ease of use and functionality. Various updates were made over the past few months that helped to produce an online map that can be used by anyone who wants to fish in Lake Erie. Features include finding potential fishing locations, locating nearby boat launches, measuring distances and water depth, identifying charter captains and researching local marinas, bait and tackle shops and other resources utilized by fishing enthusiasts.

“This online application firmly establishes an online presence that can reach a wide variety of people more effectively and efficiently, as well as significantly reduce the impact on the environment through the eventual elimination of printing paper maps,” said Hersey. “I thank County Executive Poloncarz for allowing our department to develop this and applaud our employees for working closely with the Erie County Fishery Advisory Board and other community partners to help this project come to fruition.”

Future plans also call for working closely with Visit Buffalo Niagara and other local chambers of commerce to expand the resource so that eventually it can provide information that can be useful to tourists and others visiting Western New York, including details about hotels, restaurants and nearby cultural institutions.

To access the Erie and Niagara Hotspot Fishing Map online map, visit: http://www2.erie.gov/hotspot/