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UK Offshore Marine Protected Areas 2024

Abstract

This resource contains boundary, site and feature information for designated UK Offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Offshore MPAs include Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), Scottish national MPAs, Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) with marine components and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) with marine components. JNCC is responsible for identifying and providing conservation advice on MPAs in UK offshore waters (beyond 12 nautical miles from the coast). Further information on offshore MPAs is available on our website: https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/offshore-mpas/

A shapefile and spreadsheet are available for download. The shapefile contains site boundaries and associated site attribute information, including: site code, site name, site status, country, CP2 region, area (hectares), centroid lat/long (decimal degree), established date, lead agency and WDPA code. The spreadsheet provides the same site attribute data as well as information on the sites' protected features (including feature names, feature codes and species population types). Sites that straddle the inshore/offshore (UK Territorial Seas) limit are included in these datasets.

For further information please see the shapefile metadata and spreadsheet read-me (within the files).

Resource type Dataset

Topic category Boundaries

Reference date 2024·12·13

Lineage
Recent updates: Version 20251203: Update to West of Scotland Boundary. Full version history is included in the metadata (shapefile) or version control table (spreadsheet).

Responsible organisation
Digital and Data Solutions, JNCC distributor

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Re-use of the data is subject to the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 including attribution of the relevant copyright holders. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ The site boundaries include sections of UK Exclusive Economic Zone © Crown copyright. The exact limits of the EEZ are set out in The Exclusive Economic Zone Order 2013. If you re-use this information you must acknowledge the source in your product or application by including or linking to the following attribution statement: Contains Joint Nature Conservation Committee data © copyright and database right [2024]. Contains Natural England data © copyright and database right [2020]. Contains NatureScot data © copyright and database right [2020]. Contains Natural Resource Wales data © copyright and database right [2020]. Contains Northern Ireland Environment Agency data © copyright and database right [2020]. Contains UK Hydrographic Office data © copyright and database right [2020]. Contains Ordnance Survey data © copyright and database right [2020].

Metadata date 2026·08·13

Metadata point of contact
Digital and Data Solutions, JNCC

Temporal extent 2015·07·21 2024·12·13

Spatial extent
North 63.887067
South 48.166667
East 3.249861
West -19.25
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