Defacto Marine Protected Areas of the United States

Description

These data provide the spatial boundaries of DeFacto Marine Protected Areas in U.S. Waters. With nearly 1200 sites (for which GIS data are available), DFMPAs cover 3% of the U.S. waters, (0-200 nautical miles offshore), which includes the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Territorial Sea, and state waters. DFMPAs range in size from less than one acre to more than 40,000 km2, though the vast majority is at the smaller end of this spectrum. Most of the small sites were created to provide places for vessels to anchor safely. Most of the large sites provide dedicated training and operation areas for various branches of the U.S. military, or facilitate the transfer of oil and gas to moored tanker vessels.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 Online Resource http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/dataanalysis/defacto/
0 View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/39998
0 Online Resource http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/dataanalysis/defacto/
33 NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nos/onms/dmp/pdf/39998.pdf
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/find-data/idn/gcmd-keywords

Tags

  • defacto mpas
  • national ocean service
  • marine boundaries
  • nautical charting
  • doc/noaa/nos/nms
  • noaa
  • u.s. department of commerce
  • national marine sanctuaries
  • mpa_inventory
  • marine protected areas

Topics

Categories