Gulf of Mexico Management Area Boundary. This GIS polygon data delineates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation & Management Act (MSA) for the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico marine waters. The MSA is the primary law governing marine fisheries management in the United States federal waters. The Act created regional fishery management councils to manage fisheries and promote conservation. The MSA geographic area extends from the state/federal water boundary to the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) outer boundary, and this data is a combination of this outer and inner boundary. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) uses these boundaries to create the geographic regulatory boundaries in federal waters. The limits of the EEZ are determined from the official U.S. baseline, recognized as the low-water line along the coast as marked on the official U.S. nautical charts in accordance with the articles of the Law of the Sea. The state/federal water boundary is based on the Submerged Lands Act (SLA) boundary line and protraction diagrams. Metadata for the EEZ and the SLA are available at the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre (MMC) website or the specific Agency websites listed in the credits. The Fishery Management Council Boundaries are included in this dataset, and bisect the MSA.Because GIS projection and topology functions can change or generalize coordinates, these GIS files are considered to be approximate, and are NOT an OFFICIAL record for the exact Submerged Lands Act Boundary. The Official Protraction Diagrams (OPDs) and Supplemental Official Block Diagrams (SOBDs) serve as the legal definition for offshore boundary coordinates and area descriptions. The EEZ is based on the low-water line along the coast, and is also updated periodically. These digital boundaries do NOT represent the legal definition of the maritime boundaries.
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{'Title': '', 'Author': '', 'Comments': '', 'Subject': '', 'Category': '', 'Keywords': 'Boundary,Council Jurisdiction,Council, Fishery Management Council, 200 nautical mile limit'}
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