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Summary
Item Identification
Keywords
Physical Location
Data Set Info
Support Roles
Extents
Spatial Info
Access Info
URLs
Activity Log
Tech Environment
Data Quality
Lineage
Child Items
Catalog Details

Summary

Short Citation
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 2024: Defacto Marine Protected Areas of the United States, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/39998.
Full Citation Examples

Abstract

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.

Distribution Information

No Distributions available.

Access Constraints:

These data are publicly accessible and downloadable via http://www.mpa.gov

Use Constraints:

The data are not to be used for navigation.

Controlled Theme Keywords

boundaries, oceans, planningCadastre

Child Items

Type Title
Entity DeFacto Attributes

Contact Information

Point of Contact
MPA Data Manager
mpainventory@noaa.gov
831-647-6462

Metadata Contact
MPA Data Manager
mpainventory@noaa.gov
831-647-6462

Extents

Geographic Area 1

-180° W, 180° E, 61.146526° N, 13.415645° S

Time Frame 1
2008-06

Item Identification

Title: Defacto Marine Protected Areas of the United States
Short Name: Defacto MPAs 2008
Status: Completed
Publication Date: 2008-06
Abstract:

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.

Purpose:

As a first step towards creating a national system, the National Marine Protected Areas Center (MPA Center) is synthesizing information on all existing place-based marine spatial management efforts in the country, including those that were not implemented specifically for conservation purposes. This report gives the first nation-wide view of the number, size, type, and purpose of DFMPAs in the United States. It answers the question, How many DFMPAs exist in the United States, and how are they currently being used?

Notes:

1505

Supplemental Information:

Marine areas that are set aside for reasons other than conservation, such as economic, human health or safety, and protection of government or private property are called de facto MPAs (DFMPAs). These are places where activities are restricted by law for reasons other than conservation or natural resource management. Familiar examples include: safety, security, and danger zones, restricted areas, prohibited lightering areas, some anchorage grounds, and traffic separation schemes.

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
ISO 19115 Topic Category
boundaries
ISO 19115 Topic Category
oceans
ISO 19115 Topic Category
planningCadastre
UNCONTROLLED
NOS Data Explorer Topic Category Marine Boundaries
NOS Data Explorer Topic Category Nautical Charting
None DeFacto MPAs
None Marine Protected Areas

Physical Location

Organization: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
City: Silver Spring
State/Province: MD

Data Set Information

Data Set Scope Code: Data Set
Maintenance Frequency: None Planned
Data Presentation Form: vector digital data
Distribution Liability:

The MPA Center shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained in this database. These data and related graphics are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such.The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and within the limitations of geospatial data in general, and these data in particular.

Support Roles

Data Steward

CC ID: 496967
Date Effective From: 2008-06
Date Effective To:
Contact (Position): MPA Data Manager
Address: 99 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Email Address: mpainventory@noaa.gov
Phone: 831-647-6462
Fax: 831-647-1732

Distributor

CC ID: 496969
Date Effective From: 2008-06
Date Effective To:
Contact (Position): MPA Data Manager
Address: 99 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Email Address: mpainventory@noaa.gov
Phone: 831-647-6462
Fax: 831-647-1732

Metadata Contact

CC ID: 496970
Date Effective From: 2008-06
Date Effective To:
Contact (Position): MPA Data Manager
Address: 99 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Email Address: mpainventory@noaa.gov
Phone: 831-647-6462
Fax: 831-647-1732

Point of Contact

CC ID: 496968
Date Effective From: 2008-06
Date Effective To:
Contact (Position): MPA Data Manager
Address: 99 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940
Email Address: mpainventory@noaa.gov
Phone: 831-647-6462
Fax: 831-647-1732

Extents

Currentness Reference: Publication Date

Extent Group 1

Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1

CC ID: 496973
W° Bound: -180
E° Bound: 180
N° Bound: 61.146526
S° Bound: 13.415645

Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1

CC ID: 496972
Time Frame Type: Discrete
Start: 2008-06

Spatial Information

Spatial Representation

Representations Used

Vector: Yes

Vector Representation 1

CC ID: 587912
Complex Object Present?: Yes
Complex Object Count: 1194

Access Information

Security Class: Unclassified
Data Access Constraints:

These data are publicly accessible and downloadable via http://www.mpa.gov

Data Use Constraints:

The data are not to be used for navigation.

URLs

URL 1

CC ID: 496965
URL: http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/dataanalysis/defacto/
URL Type:
Online Resource

Activity Log

Activity Log 1

CC ID: 496982
Activity Date/Time: 2011-10-25
Description:

Date that the source FGDC record was last modified.

Activity Log 2

CC ID: 496981
Activity Date/Time: 2017-04-05
Description:

Converted from FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (version FGDC-STD-001-1998) using 'fgdc_to_inport_xml.pl' script. Contact Tyler Christensen (NOS) for details.

Activity Log 3

CC ID: 587910
Activity Date/Time: 2017-09-13
Description:

Partial upload of Spatial Info section only.

Technical Environment

Description:

Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.3500

Data Quality

Completeness Report:

The inventory is complete as of June 2008.

Conceptual Consistency:

Inventory data were collected from various sources at various spatial scales. The datasets collected were not resampled and are presented in their original form as provided from the contributing agencies, with the exception for a variety of sites that were drawn from coordinates provided by governing agencies.

Lineage

Process Steps

Process Step 1

CC ID: 496963
Description:

Boundary data were collected from various sources, including NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts, Notices to Mariners, as well as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Digital Nautical Charts. Where boundaries were not available in GIS formats, they were digitized from coordinates published in the Code of Federal Regulations, or from paper charts as needed.

Process Date/Time: 2005-01-01 00:00:00

Child Items

Rubric scores updated every 15m

Rubric Score Type Title
Entity DeFacto Attributes

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 39998
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:39998
Metadata Record Created By: Tyler Christensen
Metadata Record Created: 2017-04-05 14:27+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2023-05-30 18:09+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2017-09-14
Owner Org: ONMS
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2017-09-14
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2018-09-14