UK OSPAR Marine Protected Areas with Underlying Designation Relationships

A spreadsheet listing all UK Marine Protected Areas nominated to the OSPAR Commission for the North-East Atlantic network. The data, provided by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, maps the relationship between an MPA's OSPAR status and its equivalent UK designation, such as Special Areas of Conservation and Marine Conservation Zones. It was last updated on 2026-04-14.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the composition of the UK's OSPAR MPA network based on the listed protected area types.
• Mapping relationships between international (OSPAR) and national (UK) conservation designations based on the described column structure.
• Assessing geographic coverage of marine protection in UK waters, likely based on the referenced supporting shapefile.

Strengths

• Data is supported by a referenced shapefile for spatial analysis.
• Explicitly maps the relationship between OSPAR status and underlying UK designations across columns A-J.
• Includes an MPA submitted on behalf of the Isle of Man, extending coverage.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-04-14 09:45:31.405546; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and other UK Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies.

Collection Method

Assessment of existing MPAs in UK waters under European and national legislation for nomination to OSPAR.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:45:31.405546.

Geography

UK waters and the Isle of Man in the North-East Atlantic.