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    • Defacto Marine Protected Areas of the United States

    Metadata Updated: May 20, 2025

    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.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date May 15, 2025
    Metadata Created Date October 31, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date May 20, 2025
    Reference Date(s) 2008-06 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NOS ONMS

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date May 15, 2025
    Metadata Created Date October 31, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date May 20, 2025
    Reference Date(s) 2008-06 (publication)
    Responsible Party (Point of Contact, Custodian)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:39998
    Access Constraints Cite As: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, [Date of Access]: Defacto Marine Protected Areas of the United States [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/39998., 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., 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.
    Bbox East Long 180
    Bbox North Lat 61.146526
    Bbox South Lat 13.415645
    Bbox West Long -180
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned
    Harvest Object Id 00e94698-ee0b-4971-9b9d-9cea64d9be99
    Harvest Source Id f705727e-6c56-4072-92cc-ce5c5c5b4688
    Harvest Source Title NOS ONMS
    Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
    Lineage
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, 13.415645], [180.0, 13.415645], [180.0, 61.146526], [-180.0, 61.146526], [-180.0, 13.415645]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True

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