Search Help Show/Hide Menu
Summary
Item Identification
Keywords
Physical Location
Data Set Info
Support Roles
Extents
Spatial Info
Access Info
Distribution Info
Activity Log
Data Quality
Lineage
Child Items
Catalog Details

Summary

Short Citation
Office for Coastal Management, 2024: U.S. State Submerged Lands, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/48928.
Full Citation Examples

Abstract

The Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. Section 1301 et seq.) grants coastal states title to natural resources located within their coastal submerged lands and navigable waters out to three nautical miles from their coastlines (three marine leagues for Texas and Florida's Gulf of Mexico coastlines). The Submerged Lands Act defines "natural resources" to include oil, gas, and all other minerals, and fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, sponges, kelp, and other marine animal and plant life," yet expressly excludes "water power, or the use of water for the production of power" 43 U.S.C. Section 1301(e). The term "coast line" is "the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the coast which is in direct contact with the open sea and the line marking the seaward limit of inland waters" (43 U.S.C. Section 1301(c)). Some boundary delineations are approximated, including areas in Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington State. The official delineation of the Submerged Lands Act in these locations has not yet been established by BOEM. Please reference BOEM's official Submerged Lands Act Boundary in these locations to determine where this boundary is approximated and where it is official.

Source: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title43/pdf/USCODE-2011-title43-chap29.pdf

Date enacted: May 22, 1953

Codification: 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1301 et seq.

Authority: agencies of several U.S. coastal states

Distribution Information

Access Constraints:

None

Use Constraints:

For coastal and ocean planning

Controlled Theme Keywords

boundaries, ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT, oceans, planningCadastre

Child Items

Type Title
Entity USStateSubmergedLands

Contact Information

Point of Contact
NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
coastal.info@noaa.gov
(843) 740-1202

Extents

Geographic Area 1

-179.229655° W, 179.856675° E, 71.439231° N, 18.85975° S

Time Frame 1
2016

Item Identification

Title: U.S. State Submerged Lands
Status: Completed
Publication Date: 2016-09-14
Abstract:

The Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. Section 1301 et seq.) grants coastal states title to natural resources located within their coastal submerged lands and navigable waters out to three nautical miles from their coastlines (three marine leagues for Texas and Florida's Gulf of Mexico coastlines). The Submerged Lands Act defines "natural resources" to include oil, gas, and all other minerals, and fish, shrimp, oysters, clams, crabs, lobsters, sponges, kelp, and other marine animal and plant life," yet expressly excludes "water power, or the use of water for the production of power" 43 U.S.C. Section 1301(e). The term "coast line" is "the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the coast which is in direct contact with the open sea and the line marking the seaward limit of inland waters" (43 U.S.C. Section 1301(c)). Some boundary delineations are approximated, including areas in Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington State. The official delineation of the Submerged Lands Act in these locations has not yet been established by BOEM. Please reference BOEM's official Submerged Lands Act Boundary in these locations to determine where this boundary is approximated and where it is official.

Source: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title43/pdf/USCODE-2011-title43-chap29.pdf

Date enacted: May 22, 1953

Codification: 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1301 et seq.

Authority: agencies of several U.S. coastal states

Purpose:

To support ocean planning activities pursuant to the Executive Order Regarding the Ocean Policy to Advance the Economic, Security, and Environmental Interests of the United States, the Energy Policy Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Rivers and Harbors Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Supplemental Information:

Bureau Code: 006:48, Program Code: 006:055

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT
ISO 19115 Topic Category
boundaries
ISO 19115 Topic Category
oceans
ISO 19115 Topic Category
planningCadastre
UNCONTROLLED
None coastal
None marine boundaries
None planning

Spatial Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords
CONTINENT > NORTH AMERICA > UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
UNCONTROLLED
None Exclusive Economic Zone
None Outer Continental Shelf
None Territorial Sea
None United States of America

Physical Location

Organization: Office for Coastal Management
City: Charleston
State/Province: SC

Data Set Information

Data Set Scope Code: Data Set
Maintenance Frequency: None Planned
Entity Attribute Overview:

statute, citation, codification

Distribution Liability:

https://www.marinecadastre.gov/about/disclaimer.html

Data Set Credit: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Support Roles

Point of Contact

CC ID: 654350
Date Effective From: 2016-09-14
Date Effective To:
Contact (Organization): NOAA Office for Coastal Management (NOAA/OCM)
Address: 2234 South Hobson Ave
Charleston, SC 29405-2413
Email Address: coastal.info@noaa.gov
Phone: (843) 740-1202
URL: https://coast.noaa.gov

Extents

Currentness Reference: Publication Date

Extent Group 1

Extent Group 1 / Geographic Area 1

CC ID: 654355
W° Bound: -179.229655
E° Bound: 179.856675
N° Bound: 71.439231
S° Bound: 18.85975

Extent Group 1 / Time Frame 1

CC ID: 654354
Time Frame Type: Discrete
Start: 2016

Spatial Information

Spatial Representation

Representations Used

Vector: Yes

Access Information

Security Class: Unclassified
Data Access Constraints:

None

Data Use Constraints:

For coastal and ocean planning

Distribution Information

Distribution 1

CC ID: 1121386
Download URL: https://marinecadastre.gov/data/
Distributor:
Description:

MarineCadastre.gov Data Registry

Distribution 2

CC ID: 1121387
Download URL: https://marinecadastre.gov/downloads/data/mc/USStateSubmergedLands.zip
Distributor:

Activity Log

Activity Log 1

CC ID: 654375
Activity Date/Time: 2016-09-14
Description:

Date that the source FGDC record was last modified.

Activity Log 2

CC ID: 654374
Activity Date/Time: 2017-11-14
Description:

Converted from FGDC Content Standard 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: 717536
Activity Date/Time: 2018-02-08
Description:

Partial upload of Positional Accuracy fields only.

Data Quality

Accuracy:

Untested

Horizontal Positional Accuracy:

Compiled to meet 10 meters horizontal accuracy at 95% confidence level

Completeness Report:

Untested

Conceptual Consistency:

These data are logically consistent

Lineage

Sources

Coastal Zone Management Act

CC ID: 654339
Contact Name: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Office for Coastal Management (OCM)
Publish Date: 2013-12-12
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2013-12-12
Citation URL: ftp://ftp.coast.noaa.gov/pub/MSP/CoastalZoneManagementActBoundary.zip
Source Contribution:

The official, published seaward boundary for the Coastal Zone Management Act. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

coastline.zip

CC ID: 654334
Contact Name: Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Source Contribution:

Shoreline for the state of Alaska. Received data via email. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

Energy Policy Act

CC ID: 654341
Contact Name: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Office for Coastal Management (OCM)
Publish Date: 2016-05-11
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2016-05-11
Citation URL: ftp://coast.noaa.gov/pub/Legis-Atlas/FederalGeoregulations/EnergyPolicyAct.zip
Source Contribution:

The official, published boundary for the Energy Policy Act. This boundary was used as an equivalent delineation for the Exclusive Economic Zone boundary. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

International_Boundary.zip

CC ID: 654337
Contact Name: Department of the Interior (DOI), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Publish Date: 2010-01-01
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2010
Citation URL: http://txpub.usgs.gov/BEHI/Data_download/Boundaries_Layers/International_Boundary.zip
Source Contribution:

Delineation of the U.S./Mexico international boundary. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

OCS 3nm line

CC ID: 654340
Contact Name: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Office for Coast Survey (OCS)
Source Contribution:

The official OCS 3nm line, for Alaska and Hawaii. Received data via email. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

shapefile13w.zip

CC ID: 654335
Contact Name: U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Publish Date: 2009-01-01
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2009
Citation URL: http://msi.nga.mil/DNCSiteContent/StaticFiles/shapefiles/shapefile13w.zip
Source Contribution:

Shoreline for the state of Hawaii, and a small portion of northeast Alaska at the border with Canada. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

Submerged Lands Act

CC ID: 654338
Contact Name: Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Extent Type: Range
Extent Start Date/Time: 2006-02-10
Extent End Date/Time: 2012
Citation URL: http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Mapping-and-Data/Alaska/fedstate.aspx
Source Contribution:

The official, published seaward boundary for the Submerged Lands Act in the Lower 48 and Alaska. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

us_medium_shoreline.zip

CC ID: 654333
Contact Name: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Publish Date: 2008-01-01
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2008
Citation URL: https://coast.noaa.gov/htdata/Shoreline/us_medium_shoreline.zip
Source Contribution:

Medium resolution shoreline for the Lower 48 states. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

USMaritimeLimitsAndBoundariesSHP.zip

CC ID: 654336
Contact Name: Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS), Office for Coast Survey (OCS)
Publish Date: 2013-09-13
Extent Type: Discrete
Extent Start Date/Time: 2013-09-13
Citation URL: http://maritimeboundaries.noaa.gov/downloads/USMaritimeLimitsAndBoundariesSHP.zip
Source Contribution:

Delineation of the U.S./Canada international boundary. | Source Geospatial Form: vector digital data | Type of Source Media: online

Process Steps

Process Step 1

CC ID: 654342
Description:

1. Acquired national shoreline/s from authoritative sources (NOAA, BOEM, and NGA) to use as the inland extent of the Submerged Lands Act (SLA) boundary.

2. Acquired international borders (Canada and Mexico) from authoritative sources (OCS and USGS, respectively).

3. Acquired the seaward Submerged Lands Act line work from BOEM (Lower 48 and Alaska only). Acquired NOAA 3nm line work from OCS (via email) for Hawaii and those areas of Alaska that do not have a BOEM-defined SLA boundary. (NOTE: some western Hawaiian islands have a 3nm line based on reefs, rather than the source shoreline (via NGA) extents.) The Exclusive Economic Zone (derived from the Energy Policy Act boundary) was used in places like Maine, Texas, and Washington state, where unclosed polylines in the BOEM SLA occurred over open water.

4. Created a national polygon shoreline, using the various shoreline sources and international borders. This was used as the landward extent of the SLA boundary. (NOTE: in northeast Alaska, the BOEM shoreline and OCS international boundary did not intersect. Used the NGA shoreline to close the small gap between these two sources.)

5. The seaward extent of the SLA boundary was generated in various ways, depending on the region and the respective data available. The methods are detailed as follows:

6. For the Lower 48, manually combined the BOEM SLA boundary, the OCS US/Canada boundary, and the USGS US/Mexico boundary. The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) boundary was used where the BOEM SLA boundary was discontinuous (Florida) or did not connect with other boundaries (Washington State).

7. For Alaska, manually combined the BOEM SLA boundary and the OCS 3nm line. Where different component boundaries (polylines) did not meet/coincide, a line was drawn between the two at a perpendicular angle, based on the bearing of the line segment formed by the last two vertices of the "more official" boundary. For example, this was done in Alaska where the BOEM SLA and OCS 3nm lines did not line up. In such a case, the connecting line(s) was derived by adding a line perpendicular from the final line segment of the BOEM SLA boundary, per location.

8. For Hawaii, the respective features within the OCS 3nm boundary were extracted, as no published SLA boundary previously existed.

9. Combined all seaward extents of the varying regions into one national feature class.

10. Combined the seaward and landward (i.e. shoreline) segment boundaries into one feature class, then converted to a polygon. Before converting to a polygon, had to address 13 topology errors within the BOEM SLA data, where very small gaps within the polyline existed. (Five errors were in Alaska and eight were in the Gulf of Mexico.) These gaps were closed by creating a straight line between the two end nodes.

11. Generated a Great Lakes polygon, using the NOAA medium resolution shoreline and the US/Canada international boundary.

12. Visually inspected boundary extents to make sure they were coincident to respective data source boundaries.

13. Added fields and populated according to data dictionary.

2022-10-25

14. Executed REPAIR GEOMETRY function to remove non simple features and duplicate vertex features.

15. Executed the INTERSECT function with a one degree reference grid.

16. Adjusted the field sizes to better reflect the actual size of each field

Process Date/Time: 2016-01-01 00:00:00

Child Items

Rubric scores updated every 15m

Rubric Score Type Title
Entity USStateSubmergedLands

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 48928
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:48928
Metadata Record Created By: Anne Ball
Metadata Record Created: 2017-11-14 15:56+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2023-05-30 18:09+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2018-02-08
Owner Org: OCM
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2018-02-08
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2019-02-08