Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Legal Boundary Polygon

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary boundary is a GIS-compatible digital polygon file representing the legal sanctuary limits. The boundary is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (15 C.F.R. Part 922) and is based on the best available data from the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. The dataset is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Department of Commerce.

Use Cases

• Marine spatial planning based on the official legal boundary polygon.
• Enforcing sanctuary regulations based on the defined geographic limits.
• Conservation impact analysis based on the mapped marine protected area.
• Overlaying other geospatial data (e.g., species habitats, vessel traffic) based on the sanctuary boundary framework.

Strengths

• Boundary is legally defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (15 C.F.R. Part 922).
• Data is based on the best available data as stated by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
• Dataset is managed by the authoritative NOAA organization.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single sanctuary location.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Digital representation of legal boundaries defined in federal regulations.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-10 19:32:41.250463; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Atlantic Ocean