High Seas Protection Portal

Map Description  View Fullscreen

     

This interactive map is hosted by the team at the Atlas of Marine Protection (mpatlas.org) as a resource for groups or individuals interested in the extent and types of protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) or the "High Seas."  This project began as part of our work with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. We evaluated the levels of benthic (seafloor) protections for vulnerable marine ecosystems in the high seas under the various regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs). You can learn more about the project this is based on, static maps, and the final report at the Marine Conservation Institute website.

Please give the viewer time to load if and try again later or contact us if you have trouble getting the map to load. Any questions or additional data can be sent to beth.pike@marine-conservation.org. Thank you. 

For more information about the map and features, please visit the FAQs. Zoom in or out on the map to get layers to become viewable (if you don't see what you are looking for). Area and layer information gets more specific as you zoom in on the areas.

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Frequently Asked Questions:

What layers are available to view?

• Regional Fishery Management Area (RFMO) Footprints

• Regional Fishery Management Area (RFMO) Closures

• Regional Fishery Management Area (RFMO) Jurisdictions

• Global Predicted Deep Sea Coral Habitat

• "Fishable" Seamounts and Depths (varies by RFMO area, see definitions BELOW)

• Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields (InterRidge Vents Database v3.4)

• Areas of Particular Environmental Interest (from International Seabed Authority)

• Deep Sea Mining Areas (from International Seabed Authority)

• Global permissive areas for crust and nodule mining development (Hain et al. 2013)

• Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) (from Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity)

• Extended Continental Shelf Claims (Submissions made to Oceans & Law of the Sea, United Nations)

• Marine Ecoregion Classifications (LME, MEOW, GOODS)

They layer I want to view is "greyed out"?

"Greyed out" layers only appear at certain zooms, so zoom in or out to view.

How can I learn more about the layers?

There are pop-ups for most of the layers that provide further info and links about the data. Please let us know if we can provide more information.

How can I change the layers I'm seeing?

There is a layers button in tool bar that will allow you to click different layers on and off.

What is "fishable" depth?

The depth at which the ocean floor is deemed able to be fished, or "fishable." This depth is defined differently by each RFMO.

RFMO	Name	“Fishable” Depth
CCAMLR	Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources	2200m
GFCM	General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean	1500m
NAFO	Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization	2000m
NEAFC	North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission	1500m
NPFC	North Pacific Fisheries Commission	1500m
SEAFO	South-East Atlantic Fisheries Organization	2000m
SIOFA	South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement	1500m
SPRFMO	South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization	1500m

What additional layers need to be added?

We are open to adding any additional layers that users would find useful.

What are the data sources?

• Bathymetry - Becker, J. J., D. T. Sandwell, W. H. F. Smith, J. Braud, B. Binder, J. Depner, D. Fabre, J. Factor, S. Ingalls, S-H. Kim, R. Ladner, K. Marks, S. Nelson, A. Pharaoh, R. Trimmer, J. Von Rosenberg, G. Wallace, P. Weatherall. (2009) Global Bathymetry and Elevation Data at 30 Arc Seconds Resolution: SRTM30_PLUS, Marine Geodesy, 32:4, 355-371.
• Seamounts - Yesson, C.; Clark, M.R.; Taylor, M.L.; Rogers, A.D. (2011) The global distribution of seamounts based on 30 arc seconds bathymetry data. Deep-Sea Res., Part 1, Oceanogr. Res. Pap. 58(4): 442-453.
• Scleractinian sp. Predicted Coral Habitat - Davies, A and JM Guinotte. (2011) Global habitat suitability for framework-forming cold-water corals. PLoS ONE 6(4) e18483.
• Octocorals Predicted Coral Habitat - Yesson, C., Taylor, M. L., Tittensor, D. P., Davies, A. J., Guinotte, J., Baco, A., Black, J., Hall‐Spencer, J.M. & Rogers, A. D. (2012) Global habitat suitability of cold‐water octocorals. Journal of Biogeography. 39 (7), 1278-1292.
• RFMO Data - FAO VME Database and RFMO websites and reports
• LME – www.lme.noaa.gov, 21 July 2016
• GOODS – UNESCO, 2009. Global Open Oceans and Deep Seabed (GOODS) – Biogeographic Classification. (IOC Technical Series, 84.) Paris: UNESCO-IOC.
• EBSAs - Dunn, D.C., J. Ardron, N. Bax, P. Bernal, J. Cleary, I. Cresswell, B. Donnelly, P. Dunstan, K.M. Gjerde, D. Johnson, K. Kaschner, B. Lascelles, J. Rice, H. von Nordheim, L. Wood, P. N. Halpin. (2014) The Convention on Biological Diversity’s Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas: origins, development, and current status. Marine Policy 49:137-145. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2013.12.002
• Deep Sea Mining Areas - information available on International Seabed Authority (ISA).
• Deep Sea Metal Areas - Hein, J.R., Mizell, K., Koschinsky, A., and Conrad, T.A., 2013. Deep-ocean mineral deposits as a source of critical metals for high- and green-technology applications:  Comparison with land-based resources.  Ore Geology Reviews, v. 51, p. 1-14.
• Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields - Beaulieu, S.E., 2015, InterRidge Global Database of Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields: prepared for InterRidge, Version 3.3. World Wide Web electronic publication. Version 3.4 accessed 2018-02-15, http://vents-data.interridge.org