diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index abb480c899..cd5ffe83c1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1257,7 +1257,13 @@ target_link_libraries(${PACKAGE_NAME} PRIVATE ocpn::sqlite)
 add_subdirectory("libs/SQLiteCpp")
 target_link_libraries(${PACKAGE_NAME} PRIVATE ocpn::sqlite_cpp)
 
-add_subdirectory("libs/shapelib")
+find_package(Shapelib)
+if (SHAPELIB_FOUND)
+  message(STATUS "Using system shapelib")
+else ()
+  message(STATUS "Using bundled shapelib")
+  add_subdirectory("libs/shapelib")
+endif ()
 target_link_libraries(${PACKAGE_NAME} PRIVATE shapelib::shapelib)
 
 add_subdirectory("libs/ShapefileCpp")
diff --git a/cmake/FindShapelib.cmake b/cmake/FindShapelib.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c55b618811
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/FindShapelib.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Find the shapelib a k a shp libraries
+#
+# Defines:
+#     SHAPELIB_FOUND - true if shapelib libs and headers found
+#
+# Exports:
+#     shapelib::shapelib transitive link target if SHAPELIB_FOUND is true
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2024 Alec Leamas
+# License: GPL 2+
+
+find_path(SHAPELIB_INCLUDE_DIR shapefil.h)
+
+find_library(SHAPELIB_LIBRARY NAMES shp shapelib)
+
+find_package_handle_standard_args(Shapelib
+    DEFAULT_MSG SHAPELIB_LIBRARY SHAPELIB_INCLUDE_DIR
+)
+
+if (Shapelib_FOUND)
+  add_library(_shapelib INTERFACE)
+  target_link_libraries(_shapelib INTERFACE ${SHAPELIB_LIBRARY})
+  target_include_directories(_shapelib INTERFACE ${SHAPELIB_INCLUDE_DIR})
+  add_library(shapelib::shapelib ALIAS _shapelib)
+endif()
+
+mark_as_advanced(SHAPELIB_INCLUDE_DIR SHAPELIB_LIBRARY)