California Ocean Uses Atlas: Non-Consumptive sector

This dataset is a result of the California Ocean Uses Atlas Project: a collaboration between NOAA's National Marine Protected Areas Center and Marine Conservation Biology Institute. The Project was designed to enhance ocean management through geospatial data on the full range of significant human uses of California's ocean environment from the shoreline to the 200 nm EEZ boundary. Data was gathered from regional ocean experts and users through participatory GIS methods. For more information on the project scope, background and related data products, please visit www.mpa.gov.

The California Ocean Uses Atlas Project fills a critical information gap in ocean management by providing an unprecedented, comprehensive, consistent and spatially explicit picture of human uses for management agencies, policy makers and stakeholders interested in sound and equitable ocean governance. Using participatory GIS concepts and applications, the Atlas Project generated spatial data and map products illustrating patterns, intensity, and temporal changes in a wide range of human uses in three broad categories of use: (i) fishing, (ii) non-consumptive, and (iii) industrial activities. The resulting datasets depict patterns of ocean use on a broad scale appropriate for a variety of ocean planning and management needs. This dataset contains the non-consumptive activities, and is part of the larger California Ocean Uses Atlas database.

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The Non-Consumptive sector contains 9 ocean uses: -Beach use: includes walking, running, digging, resting, shell collecting, wildlife viewing, driving, camping, kite flying, bonfires, picnicking, dog walking; excludes beach renourishment, dredging, scientific/educational specimen collecting, seascape viewing from boats or from shoreward of the beach, surf fishing, swimming; -Motorized boating: includes personal watercraft, outboard motors, private motorized vehicles; excludes fishing boats and wildlife viewing charters, cruise ships; -Paddling: includes kayaking, canoeing, rowing, outrigger paddling; excludes motorized craft, surfing, wind-surfing; -Sailing: includes sailboats, overnight anchoring; excludes sailing kayaks and canoes; -SCUBA/snorkeling: includes SCUBA diving, tethered diving, snorkeling (free diving); excludes surface swimming; -Surface water sports: includes surfing, wind-surfing, kite surfing; excludes paddled boats, snorkeling; -Swimming: includes short- and long-distance surface swimming any distance from shore; excludes SCUBA diving, tethered diving, snorkeling (free diving); -Tidepooling: includes use of rocky shores for naturalist, leisure, or educational purposes; excludes intertidal collection or subsistence harvest of living marine species (i.e. plants, invertebrates and fish) for consumption, bait, aquaria or research; -Wildlife viewing at sea: includes any commercial boat-based or aerial wildlife viewing at sea; excludes shore-based wildlife viewing; For all uses mapped in this sector, the use footprint and dominant use areas are included in the dataset. The use footprint (aka the Maximum Footprint of Use) includes all areas in which the use is known to occur with some regularity, regardless of frequency or intensity. The dominant use areas include areas where the use is most commonly pursued and are defined as areas within the general use footprint that are routinely used by most users most of the time. Future use areas are also included for certain uses where participants anticipated an increase in spatial extent or intensity. Future use areas reflect an anticipated significant and disproportionate (relative to other areas) change in patterns of use through either a lateral expansion of a dominant use area or an increase in intensity of use, or both in the foreseeable future but within the next ten years.

For more information on use definitions and types, see the readme document within the geodatabase or visit https://coast.noaa.gov/arcgis/rest/services/MarineCadastre/OceanUsesCalifornia/MapServer.

Atlas data describe broad uses of the ocean, and are not intended to be used for navigational purposes or provide information on regulations affecting human activities.

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Atlas data describe broad uses of the ocean, and are not intended to be used for navigational purposes or provide information on regulations affecting human activities.

Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.2.6.1500

Attribute accuracy was maintained by comparing data before and after each process step, and by comparing final product to source data.

Workshops were conducted at a maximum scale of 1:250,000. During post processing, original workshop polygons were aggregated to an ordered one nautical mile grid, so exact use locations within each block are not discernible. Data are intended to portray broad patterns for each use at a comparable scale to inform ocean management but are not intended for navigation or enforcement purposes.

All uses in the Non-Consumptive sector were mapped for the entirety of the project area. In 3 of the 4 regional atlas workshops, an attempt was made to map uses of the ocean by tribal peoples. Two distinct approaches were taken. First, we mapped tribal activities taking place within the existing range of ocean uses addressed by the Atlas project (e.g. tribal pursuit of benthic fishing with fixed gear; beach use by tribal peoples). Most of the resulting tribal use patterns fell within either the general maximum footprint or the dominant use area drawn for those uses by other non-tribal participants and are thus not represented as uniquely tribal activities. Second, we attempted to map distinctly tribal use areas tied to specific geographic locations of special cultural, spiritual or historical significance. Although some tribal participants provided relevant information, not all tribal interests were represented in each workshop and some participants were reluctant to portray use patterns of other tribes. As a result, the resulting maps of tribal activity patterns may depict an incomplete or misleading picture of the full spectrum of tribal uses of the ocean in each region. Consequently, in order to avoid misinterpretation of the tribal use patterns, and to maintain data consistency and integrity throughout the Atlas maps, the tribal use data are not explicitly depicted in the public release of the atlas data or map products. They will, however, be provided to the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative and to the tribal participants for their use, with appropriate explanatory information about their content and limitations. For additional information on the tribal ocean use data, please contact the MPA Center.

Logical consistency was maintained by comparing data before and after each process step, and by comparing final product to source data.