National Marine Sanctuary Legal Boundaries for GIS

NOAA provides digital boundary files representing the legal extents of the National Marine Sanctuary System. The data covers marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington to the Florida Keys and American Samoa, defined in the Code of Federal Regulations. These GIS-compatible files are based on the best available data.

Use Cases

• Create spatial overlays of sanctuary boundaries with other marine datasets to analyze environmental impacts within specific sanctuaries like the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
• Perform jurisdictional analysis by mapping the legal boundaries defined in 15 C.F.R. Part 922 for marine spatial planning.
• Develop conservation planning tools by integrating boundary files for sanctuaries such as Channel Islands and Gray's Reef to assess protected area coverage.

Strengths

• Boundaries are legally defined representations based on the Code of Federal Regulations, ensuring authoritative spatial jurisdiction.
• Covers a national network of underwater parks spanning diverse geographies from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the Great Lakes.
• Data is maintained by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, the federal trustee for the system.

Limitations

• The sample data and specific file structure (e.g., column names for attributes) are unavailable, limiting assessment of analytical depth.
• Primary formats include ESRI REST and PDF, which may require specialized GIS software for full utilization.
• The description does not specify the temporal accuracy or versioning of the boundary representations.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

Collection Method

Digital representations of legal boundaries defined in 15 C.F.R. Part 922, based on the best available data.

Freshness

Last updated March 10, 2026.

Geography

Marine and Great Lakes waters of the United States, including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and American Samoa.