The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission recently added a new interactive map to its website that identifies more than 500 public fishing areas across the state, many of which are owned or managed by the commission.

The map allows users to search for and view information about public fishing areas around geographic areas of interest. Visitors can view the entire state or search locations by address, by zip code or by county. Once they enter a location, they can then click on a map access point to get additional information about the site, such as the name of the access site, the type of access available, the water body name, the primary fisheries present, directions to the site and the entity that owns and/or manages the site.

“We hope that this new map will be useful for anyone who fishes or wants to start fishing in North Carolina,” said Kevin Hining, a fisheries biologist with the Commission’s Division of Inland Fisheries.

The map can be found at http://216.27.39.120/FishingAreasMap.