Marine Protected Areas in Northern Ireland's Marine Plan Extent

A geospatial layer of all Marine Protected Areas designated within Northern Ireland's marine plan extent. The data includes SAC, SPA, pSPA, Ramsar, MCZ, and ASSI designations with marine components in inshore and offshore regions, compiled from the NIEA Features Database and DAERA websites. The dataset was reprojected to WGS84 and merged using ESRI ArcGIS tools, with attribution describing management authorities and providing hyperlinks for further information.

Use Cases

• Spatial analysis of marine conservation coverage based on the designated area types (SAC, SPA, etc.)
• Policy compliance and planning assessments based on the documented management authorities and protected features
• Creating maps for public communication or stakeholder engagement based on the consolidated geospatial layer

Strengths

• Includes multiple international and national designation types (SAC, SPA, Ramsar, MCZ, ASSI)
• Covers both inshore and offshore regions within the defined marine plan extent
• Provides attribution with management authority and hyperlinks to official information sources

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified
• A review of bird species under ASSI legislation is noted as ongoing, indicating potential future changes

Provenance

Source

NIEA Features Database and DAERA websites

Collection Method

Layers were reprojected to WGS84 and merged using ESRI ArcGIS data management tools.

Time Range

Data reflects designations as of December 2020.

Freshness

Last updated: unknown

Geography

Northern Ireland's marine plan extent (inshore and offshore regions)