Marine regions of the world at 1:10 million scale.

Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com.

Looking for physical regions for the oceans? These marine regions are attributed at 50m scale and are primarily derived from Patterson’s Physical Map of the World. These polygons are defined by international team of volunteers and are made available from Natural Earth.Data obtained from here: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-physical-vectors/10m-physical-labels/

This layer represents the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Region boundaries. CDFW has seven geographically-defined administrative regions. The terrestrial regions are delimited by county boundaries with the exception of the Region 2/Region 3 boundary which is defined as follows: Beginning at the intersection of the Stanislaus County boundary with Interstate 5, continuing north along Interstate 5 to Business 80 (Capital City Freeway) in Sacramento, then west on Business 80 to the Legal Delta boundary, then along the Legal Delta boundary north of Business 80 and Interstate 80 intersecting with Interstate 80 on the west side of the Yolo Bypass, then continuing west on Interstate 80 to the Solano County boundary, then continuing west and north along portions of the Solano, Napa, and Sonoma county boundaries ending at the intersection with the Mendocino County boundary. The Marine Region (Region 7) offshore boundary is represented by the official NOAA Three Nautical Mile Line - a maritime limt that depicts the outer extent of state jurisdiction.

Polygon bringing together the three sub-regions of the MSFD for Italy (Adriatic Sea, Western Mediterranean Sea and Ionian and Central Mediterranean Sea)

The Landscape Project combines documented wildlife locations with NJDEP aerial photo-based 2012 Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) to delineate imperiled and special concern species habitat within New Jersey. Many species occurrence locations cannot be published because they may represent nest sites, roost sites, dens and other sites used by species that are vulnerable to human disturbance and, in some cases, susceptible to illegal collection. At the same time, wildlife moves, as individual animals use various habitat features within the landscape to fulfill their foraging, sheltering and breeding needs. Therefore, protecting individual occurrences or the area used by one individual is generally not sufficient to protect the local population. Landscape Project maps address these issues by displaying habitat patches that animals use and that are required to support local populations, rather than pinpointing exact locations of the most sensitive wildlife sites or simply protecting points where species happened to be observed at one point in time. Prior to combining species occurrence data with LULC data to form the habitat patches that make up the Species-Based Habitat layer, each dataset was generated according to a specific data development process.

Web service for Commonwealth Marine Regions. Commonwealth Marine Planning Regions are areas within australian waters for which Marine Bioregional Plans will be established under section 176 of the commonwealth EPBC Act.

This is a vector polygon layer from Marine Scotland showing the statutory inshore Scottish Marine Regions (SMRs) and the non-statutory Offshore Marine Regions (OMRs). The marine regions were developed to define boundaries based on their physical characteristics. In 2011, 11 sea areas were established extending out to 12 nautical miles and these comprise of Argyll, Clyde, Forth and Tray, Moray Firth, North Coast, North East, Outer Hebrides, Orkney Islands, Shetland Isles, Solway and West Highlands. The SMRs are defined by The Scottish Marine Regions Order 2015 and they were added to the code register in 2018. These regions can be used for marine planning.In 2019, another 10 non-statutory Offshore Marine Regions (OMRs) have been identified to be used in the Scottish Marine Assessment atlas (SMA2020). These comprise of Bailey, East Shetland Shelf, Faroe Shetland Channel, Fladen and Moray Firth Offshore, Hatton, Hebrides Shelf, Long Forties, North Scotland Shelf, North and West Shetland Shelf and Rockall. For the purposes of assessment, the offshore marine regions only extend to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The original feature can be found on the Scottish National Marine Plan Interactive (NMPi) together with more detailed metadata.The field listing is described below:Name: This is the name of the Scottish Marine regionEntitycode: This code is used for geography Entities (levels such as Council Area - S12)*Instanccd: This is instances (areas such as Glasgow City - S12000046)*Originator: The creator of the Scottish Marine region boundary.*More about the Standard Geography Code Register.The currency of this dataset is July 2018 and no future updates are scheduled.

Mapset of sea temperature in the Northern Marine Region produced from CARS2000 mean and seasonal fields 0.1 degree spaced grid. This map has been produced by CSIRO for the National Oceans Office, as part of an ongoing commitment to natural resource planning and management through the 'National Marine Bioregionalisation' project.

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are any ecosystem that are highly vulnerable to one or more kinds of fishing activity or other disturbance, and are identified by the vulnerability of their components (e.g. habitats, communities or species). The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) Convention includes specific provisions to protect VMEs. SPRFMO has defined ten benthic invertebrate taxa that are regarded as indicators of VMEs. They are: Porifera (sponges); Actiniaria (anemones); Alcyonacea (soft corals); Gorgonacea (sea fans); Pennatulacea (sea pens); Scleractinia (stony corals); Antipatharia (black corals); Stylasteridae (hydrocorals); Crinoidea (sea lilies); and Brisingida (armless stars). For management purposes, it is important to know where VMEs are known or likely to occur, based on the best available scientific and technical information. The likely presence of VMEs can be identified using habitat suitability models for indicator taxa, ideally across the entire SPRFMO area. This is the aim of the South Pacific VME project. Records of VME indicator taxa extracted for the SPRFMO area and the New Zealand EEZ from OBIS (Online Biogeographic Information System: www.iobis.org) together with other online data sources, and data from research institutes (e.g., NIWA, CSIRO) and fisheries agencies (e.g. MPI, AFMA) were used for the project. These data were compiled and groomed prior to use in the habitat suitability modelling. Data in this dataset represent records of the VME indicator taxa as extracted from the variety of data sources listed above and may include records that are outside of the SPRFMO area.

The dataset comprises catch records of demersal fish and invertebrates from demersal fish trawls, demersal prawn trawls and epibenthic sled samples from the Northern Planning Region. It is a compilation of data from 9 research voyages (SO 05/80, SO 07/80, SO 02/81, SS 03/90, SS 05/91, SS 01/93, SS 02/97, SS 08/97and SS 03/98). The catch of each species in a sample is recorded as raw weight and count, gross weight and count (raw values divided by the subsampling fraction) and per area weight and count. Species are recorded as CAAB codes. Sample attributes include the voyage, location, time, sampling gear and sampled area. The dataset was created for the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEW) for use in profiling of the North Marine Region during the development of a marine bioregional plan for the region. Data from all voyages are in a single set of tables and in the same structure and measurement units. The aim of the dataset is to provide convenient access to the data from the source datasets, which were stored in various data structures in various locations. Although the data are presented in uniform measurement units of counts and weights per unit area, data from different samples cannot be assumed to be comparable. In particular, the catchability of a species varies among types of sampling gears. Even samples from a given gear type on a given voyage may not all be comparable to one another. For example, gear may be altered during a voyage (e.g. multiple codend mesh sizes may be tried) and fish trawls are occasionally aimed at fish visible on the echo sounder. The data should therefore be analysed no more than semi-quantitatively. Assumptions on the comparability of samples -- even from a single voyage and gear type -- should be based on reference to the voyage reports.

3D images and text describing Australia's Southeast Marine Region

You can also purchase hard copies of Geoscience Australia data and other products at http://www.ga.gov.au/products-services/how-to-order-products/sales-centre.html

Mapset showing maximum, mean and standard deviation bottom stress in the Northern Marine Region. This map has been produced by CSIRO for the National Oceans Office, as part of an ongoing commitment to natural resource planning and management through the 'National Marine Bioregionalisation' project.

This dataset contains the marine region defined for the National Climate Risk Assessment covering the Exclusive Economic Zone (Perth Treaty) and the Territorial Seas of Australia. Both the Exclusive Economic Zone (Perth Treaty) and Territorial Seas are part of the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. Geoscience Australia has the primary role in the delineation of Australia's domestic and international maritime limits and boundaries. An output of this activity is the development of the Australian Maritime Boundaries (AMB) data. AMB is a GIS data product, replacing Australian Maritime Boundaries 2014a (AMB2014a), providing access to the data for Australia's maritime zones. AMB is a digital representation of Australia's limits and boundaries as established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973 and associated proclamations. The data also include a representation of the limits by which the scheduled and offshore areas of each of the States and of the Northern Territory are determined under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (OPGGSA). In the event of an inconsistency between AMB data and the limits under any legislation, the latter prevails. The data have been published by Geoscience Australia in consultation with other relevant Commonwealth Government agencies including the Attorney-General's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Hydrographic Office. This version has been updated to reflect the 2018 Timor Sea Treaty. AMB data comprise the territorial straight baselines and the outer limits of each zone, together with maritime boundaries determined by treaties between Australia and neighbouring countries. All data coordinates are supplied in the GDA94 datum. The data reflects the location of the coastline within the constraints of available source material at the time of production. AMB Data can also be viewed on-line via AMSIS (https://amsis-geoscience-au.hub.arcgis.com/). Product Specifications Coverage: Australia including all external territories Currency: August 2019. Coordinates: Geographical Datum: GDA94 (functionally equivalent to WGS84). Format: ESRI Geodatabase and REST web service - free online. The area of coverage of the AMB data is for the whole of the Australian marine jurisdiction which includes waters adjacent to the mainland, offshore islands and External Territories. The geographical extent is approximately between the latitude limits of 7 S to 70 S and the longitude limits 40 E to 175 E. This dataset includes the following disclaimer: AMB data is a digital representation of the territorial sea baseline and of the outer limits of Australia's maritime zones. The baseline and zones are established under the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The data also includes a representation of the limits by which the waters adjacent to each of the Australian States and of the Northern Territory are determined under the Coastal Waters (State Powers) Act 1980, Coastal Waters (Northern Territory Powers) Act 1980 and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006. In the event of an inconsistency between AMB data and the baselines and limits under the legislation, the latter prevails.Status: FinalDataset version: v1, v20240621Maintenance: Not plannedField of research: Division 04 Earth SciencesLineage:This dataset contains the shapefile of the National Climate Risk Assessment marine region. It is a combination of three separate shapefiles from the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973. The three files are: 1) The Territorial Seas (https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/144571) or accessed through the AMSIS portal (https://amsis-geoscience-au.hub.arcgis.com/). The Territorial Sea is a belt of water not exceeding 12M in width measured from the territorial sea baseline. 2) The Exclusive Economic Zone (Perth Treaty) (https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/144571) or accessed through the AMSIS portal (https://amsis-geoscience-au.hub.arcgis.com/). The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea. The outer limit of the exclusive economic zone cannot exceed 200M from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. 3) The Coastal Waters from the Coastal Waters Act 1970 and 1980 (https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/145580 or accessed through the AMSIS portal (https://amsis-geoscience-au.hub.arcgis.com/). Coastal Waters is a belt of water between the limits of the Australian States and the Northern Territory and a line 3M seaward of the territorial sea baseline. As per the National Climate Risk Assessment methodology (https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/national-climate-risk-assessment) the Coastal Waters are the jurisdiction of the states. However, the state and territory based Coastal Waters overlap with the national Territorial Seas dataset. To ensure all marine regions are captured without overlap in the NCRA_Marine_Region.shp, the areas featuring in the Coastal waters dataset have been removed from the Territorial seas dataset and then that modified Territorial Seas dataset has been merged with the Exclusive Economic Zone (Perth Treaty) data. Hence, all of Australia's marine regions are captured either in the state and territory based Coastal Waters or the combined dataset of the NCRA_Marine_Region.shp which features the Territorial Seas and Exclusive Economic Zone (Perth Treaty).

This dataset contains data and documentation on the agreed-upon marine region boundaries for the Bering Sea Project study area. These data are intended to facilitate analysis and collaboration between researchers who are working on different parts of the ecosystem as part of the Bering Sea Project. The regions' boundary data are based on observed oceanography, bathymetry, benthic fauna, fish, seabird and marine mammal distribution, as well as established survey strata and ecological domains (for the Pribilof Islands).

The dataset comprises catch records of demersal fish and invertebrates from demersal fish trawls, demersal prawn trawls and epibenthic sled samples from the Northern Planning Region. It is a compilation of data from 9 research voyages (SO 05/80, SO 07/80, SO 02/81, SS 03/90, SS 05/91, SS 01/93, SS 02/97, SS 08/97and SS 03/98). The catch of each species in a sample is recorded as raw weight and count, gross weight and count (raw values divided by the subsampling fraction) and per area weight and count. Species are recorded as CAAB codes. Sample attributes include the voyage, location, time, sampling gear and sampled area. The dataset was created for the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEW) for use in profiling of the North Marine Region during the development of a marine bioregional plan for the region. Data from all voyages are in a single set of tables and in the same structure and measurement units. The aim of the dataset is to provide convenient access to the data from the source datasets, which were stored in various data structures in various locations. Although the data are presented in uniform measurement units of counts and weights per unit area, data from different samples cannot be assumed to be comparable. In particular, the catchability of a species varies among types of sampling gears. Even samples from a given gear type on a given voyage may not all be comparable to one another. For example, gear may be altered during a voyage (e.g. multiple codend mesh sizes may be tried) and fish trawls are occasionally aimed at fish visible on the echo sounder. The data should therefore be analysed no more than semi-quantitatively. Assumptions on the comparability of samples -- even from a single voyage and gear type -- should be based on reference to the voyage reports.

Set of two maps showing mean seasonal (wet/dry) ocean primary production in the Northern Marine Region extracted from global observations of ocean colour data from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS). These maps have been produced by CSIRO for the National Oceans Office, as part of an ongoing commitment to natural resource planning and management through the 'National Marine Bioregionalisation' project.

Geographic Information Systems have become indispensable tools in managing and displaying marine data and information. However, a unique georeferenced standard of marine place names and areas was not available, hampering several marine geographic applications, for example the linking of these locations to databases to integrate data. The purpose of Marine Regions is therefore to create a standard, relational list of geographic names, coupled with information and maps of the geographic location of these features. This will improve access and clarity of the different geographic, marine names such as seas, sandbanks, ridges and bays and display univocally the boundaries of marine biogeographic or managerial marine areas.

Marine Regions is an integration of the VLIMAR Gazetteer and the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. The VLIMAR Gazetteer is a database with geographic, mainly marine names such as seas, sandbanks, seamounts, ridges, bays or even standard sampling stations used in marine research. The geographic cover of the VLIMAR gazetteer is global but initially focused on the Belgian Continental Shelf and the Scheldt Estuary and the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Gradually more regional and global geographic information was added to VLIMAR and combining this information with the Maritime Boundaries database, representing the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the world, led to the creation of marineregions.org.

Marine Regions is managed by the Flanders Marine Institute. Funding for the creation of the VLIMAR gazetteer was provided initially through the EU Network of Excellence MarBEF, but also other European initiative such as EMODNet and Lifewatch provide the necessary funding for the maintenance and management of Marine Regions.

Marine Regions depends on data and knowledge sharing from global, European, regional and national data providers and relevant experts. By setting up Collaboration Agreements, data providers will benefit from belonging to the Marine Regions partnership as they would get increased visibility, gain access to a variety of data analysis services which will benefit from integration of several distributed spatial datasets, as well as enjoying the benefit of the creation of stable unique identifiers. An example template of a Collaboration Agreement can be found here. Please contact info@marineregions.org if your organisation is interested to explore this collaboration.

Key ecological features are the parts of the marine ecosystem that are considered to be of importance for a marine region's biodiversity or ecosystem function and integrity.Key ecological features (KEFs) meet one or more of the following criteria:a species, group of species, or a community with a regionally important ecological role (e.g. a predator, prey that affects a large biomass or number of other marine species);a species, group of species, or a community that is nationally or regionally important for biodiversity;an area or habitat that is nationally or regionally important for:enhanced or high productivity (such as predictable upwellings - an upwelling occurs when cold nutrient-rich waters from the bottom of the ocean rise to the surface);aggregations of marine life (such as feeding, resting, breeding or nursery areas);biodiversity and endemism (species which only occur in a specific area); ora unique seafloor feature, with known or presumed ecological properties of regional significance.KEFs have been identified by the Australian Government on the basis of advice from scientists about the ecological processes and characteristics of the area. A workshop held in Darwin in 2007 also contributed to this scientific advice and helped to underpin the identification of key ecological features.As new information becomes available, the spatial representations of identified key ecological features will continue to be refined and updated.Sixteen KEFs have been identified in the South-west Marine Region:Commonwealth marine environment surrounding the Houtman Abrolhos IslandsPerth Canyon and adjacent shelf break, and other west coast canyonsCommonwealth marine environment within and adjacent to the west coast inshore lagoonsCommonwealth marine environment within and adjacent to Geographe BayCape Mentelle upwellingNaturaliste PlateauDiamantina Fracture ZoneAlbany Canyons group and adjacent shelf breakCommonwealth marine environment surrounding the Recherche ArchipelagoAncient coastline at 90-120 m depthKangaroo Island Pool, canyons and adjacent shelf break, and Eyre Peninsula upwellings.Meso-scale eddies (points).Western demersal slope and associated fish communities.Western rock lobster.Benthic invertebrate communities of the eastern Great Australian Bight. No spatial representation available.Small pelagic fish of the South-west Marine Region. No spatial representation available.Thirteen KEFs have been identified in the North-west Marine Region:Ancient coastline at 125 m depth contourAshmore Reef and Cartier Island and surrounding Commonwealth watersCanyons linking the Argo Abyssal Plain and Scott PlateauCanyons linking the Cuvier Abyssal Plain and the Cape Range PeninsulaCarbonate bank and terrace system of the Sahul ShelfCommonwealth waters adjacent to Ningaloo ReefContinental Slope Demersal Fish CommunitiesExmouth PlateauGlomar ShoalsMermaid Reed and Commonwealth waters surrounding the Rowley ShoalsPinnacles of the Bonaparte BasinSeringapatam Reef and Commonwealth waters in the Scott Reef ComplexWallaby SaddleEight KEFs have been identified in the North Marine Region:Carbonate bank and terrace system of the Van Diemen RiseShelf break and slope of the Arafura ShelfTributary canyons of the Arafura DepressionGulf of Carpentaria basinGulf of Carpentaria coastal zonePlateaux and saddle north-west of the Wellesley IslandsPinnacles of the Bonaparte BasinSubmerged coral reefs of the Gulf of CarpentariaThree KEFs have been identified in the Coral Sea:Tasmantid seamount chainReefs, cays and hebivorous fish of the Queensland PlateauReefs, cays and hebivorous fish of the Marion PlateauEight KEFs were identified in the Temperate East marine Region:Tasmantid seamount chainLord Howe seamount chainNorfolk RidgeCanyons on the eastern continental slopeShelf rocky reefsElizabeth and Middleton reefsUpwelling off Fraser IslandTasman Front and eddy fieldEight KEFs were identified in the South-east Marine Region.Seamounts, east and south of TasmaniaWest Tasmanian canyonsBonney coast upwellingUpwelling east of EdenBig Horseshoe canyonEast Tasmania tropical convergence zone. No spatial representation availableBass cascade. No spatial representation availableShelf rocky reefs and hard substrate. No spatial representation availableIn order to create a spatial representation of KEFs for each Marine Region, some interpretation of the information was required. DSEWPaC has made every effort to use the best available spatial information and best judgement on how to spatially represent the features based on the scientific advice provided. This does not preclude others from making their own interpretation of available information.

Commonwealth Marine Regions are areas within Australian waters for which Marine Bioregional Plans will be established under section 176 of the Commonwealth EPBC Act.