Description: This shows the inshore artificial reefs for Georgia. The goals of the Georgia artificial reef program are: 1.) The development of long-term fisheries habitat 2.) The creation of additional and more accessible recreational fishing opportunities 3.) The enhancement and support of local and regional fisheries management efforts. More information about the Georgia artificial reef program are available here: http://coastalgadnr.org/fb/ar.
Description: The Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division manages the deployment of materials in state and offshore waters for the enhancement of fish habitat and increased fishing opportunities for anglers through its Artificial Reef Program. Reef areas have been permitted and eligible materials placed in those areas. This dataset was created from previous files recording reef information and location.
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Copyright Text: Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division Artificial Reef Program
Description: This data represents the extent of Georgia's coastal zone, as defined by Georgia under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA). The Georgia Coastal Management Program was authorized by the Georgia General Assembly with the passage of the Georgia Coastal Management Act (O.C.G.A. 12-5-320 et. Seq.) In January of 1998 the Program was approved by NOAA and became the 32nd state to participate in the national Coastal Zone Management Program. The CZMA was established to preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the nation's coastal zone. The zone generally extends seaward to the boundary of the Submerged Lands Act. The zone extends inland from the shorelines only to the extent necessary to control shorelands that have a direct and significant impact on coastal waters. Lands held in trust by the Federal Government have been included in this boundary unless otherwise noted, as accurately representing these could be erroneous.
Description: The purpose of this dataset is to show the extent and location of abandoned vessels in Coastal Georgia. Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division staff obtained coordinates of the sunken vessels through field location and marked points using a GeoXH 2005 Series Pocket PC. Coordinates were taken from the deck of the vessel where possible. For additional information please contact Charles "Buck" Bennett at (912)264-7218.
Description: The MPA Inventory is a comprehensive catalog that provides detailed information for existing marine protected areas in the United States. The inventory provides geospatial boundary information (in polygon format) and classification attributes that seek to define the conservation objectives, protection level, governance and related management criteria for all sites in the database. The comprehensive inventory of federal, state and territorial MPA sites provides governments and stakeholders with access to information to make better decisions about the current and future use of place-based conservation. The information also will be used to inform the development of the national system of marine protected areas as required by Executive Order 13158.
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Copyright Text: NOAA Marine Protected Areas Center in joint effort with the US Department of the Interior
Description: TThis dataset provides 1:24,000-scale data depicting boundaries of land parcels making up the lands managed by natural resource agencies, local governments and conservation organizations in Georgia. The data were collected and located by the University of Georgia NARSAL and Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Boundaries were digitized from survey plats and other information.
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Copyright Text: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, WRD Nongame Conservation
Description: The TIGER/Line Files are shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) that are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line File is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. The primary legal divisions of most States are termed counties. In Louisiana, these divisions are known as parishes. In Alaska, which has no counties, the equivalent entities are the organized boroughs, city and boroughs, and municipalities, and for the unorganized area, census areas. The latter are delineated cooperatively for statistical purposes by the State of Alaska and the Census Bureau. In four States (Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia), there are one or more incorporated places that are independent of any county organization and thus constitute primary divisions of their States. These incorporated places are known as independent cities and are treated as equivalent entities for purposes of data presentation. The District of Columbia and Guam have no primary divisions, and each area is considered an equivalent entity for purposes of data presentation. The Census Bureau treats the following entities as equivalents of counties for purposes of data presentation: Municipios in Puerto Rico, Districts and Islands in American Samoa, Municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The entire area of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas is covered by counties or equivalent entities. The 2010 Census boundaries for counties and equivalent entities are as of January 1, 2010, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).
Description: This data set contains Continental Shelf Boundary (CSB) lines for the MMS Atlantic Region. The CSB defines the seaward limit of federally managed OCS lands.
Description: The purpose of HAPCs is to focus conservation, management, and research efforts on subsets of EFH that are vulnerable to degradation or are especially important ecologically for federally managed fish. The HAPC designation alone does not confer additional protection or restrictions to an area, but helps to focus EFH conservation, management, and research priorities. HAPC designation is a valuable way to acknowledge areas where we have detailed information on ecological function and habitat vulnerability, indicating a greater need for conservation and management. In some instances the Councils and NMFS may develop fishery management measures to conserve the habitat within the HAPC.HAPCs are a subset of EFH that deserve special attention because they provide extremely important ecological functions and/or are especially vulnerable to degradation. For instance, HAPC designation may be warranted for areas that play a vital role in the reproductive cycle of a managed species (e.g., grouper spawning sites) or areas that contain a rare habitat type (e.g., corals) that may be sensitive to disturbance from fishing or other human activities.Councils may designate an area as a HAPC for one or more of the following reasons:The habitat provides important ecological functionsThe habitat is sensitive to human-induced environmental degradationDevelopment activities are, or will be, stressing the habitatThe habitat type is rare.
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Copyright Text: NOAA Fisheries: Northeast Regional Office, Southeast Regional Office, Southwest Regional Office, Northwest Regional Office, Alaska Regional Office, Pacific Regional Office; Fishery Management Councils: New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, North Pacific, Western Pacific; NOAA Fisheries Science Centers: Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, Pacific Islands, Alaska; Highly Migratory Species Division (headquarters); Habitat Protection Division (headquarters).
Description: Georgia's coastal area serves as important habitat for resident and migrant avian species. A variety of avian species utilize the habitat throughout various times of the year for roosting, nesting, and foraging. The Priority Avian Habitat GIS layer attempts to capture areas important to priority shorebirds and seabirds. The areas represent habitat that is important to a variety of shorebird species for multiple uses at various times throughout the year dependant upon the species. This GIS layer was developed utilizing documentation of observed habitat use and field expertise of Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section Biologist. The polygons represent areas of known or high suitability for shorebirds. THIS LAYER SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS ALL ENCOMPASSING OF PRIORITY HABITAT FOR ALL PRIORITY BIRD SPECIES. FURTHERMORE THIS LAYER DOES NOT REPRESENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY OR DEMARCATION.
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Copyright Text: Tim Keyes, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section.
Description: Georgia's warm coastal waters and extensive marsh grass provide habitat for migrating Florida manatees. The endangered Florida Manatee generally migrates into Georgia waters in April until October depending upon water temperatures. The Manatee Habitat GIS layer is intended to provide a spatial representation of the areas in which manatees might be encountered during their migration into Georgia. Manatees can be found throughout the estuarine environment, marine nearshore, and up into the river systems. The layer is intended to be used for initial planning with further consultation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section. THIS LAYER DOES NOT REPRESENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY OR DEMARCATION.
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Copyright Text: Clay George, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section
Description: Georgia's offshore waters are calving grounds for the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. Right Whales migrate through Georgia waters from November to April each year. The Right Whale Habitat Layer is intended to depict areas off of Georgia's coast that Right Whales would be utilizing through the migration. The GIS layer western boundary approximately follows the 3 fathom (18 feet) contour line with northern and southern boundaries following the Federal OCS Administrative Boundary (BOEM). The layer is intended to be used for initial planning with further consultation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section. THIS LAYER DOES NOT REPRESENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY OR DEMARCATION.
Definition Expression: N/A
Copyright Text: Clay George, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongam Conservation Section.
Description: Aliquots are generated from full OCS blocks by sub-dividing each block into 16ths and allow for more detailed boundary delineation in offshore energy leasing. The aliquots use a letter designation in addition to their parent protraction number and OCS block number (ie. NK-1802, 6822F). A full OCS block is 4800 x 4800 meters, while an aliquot measures 1200 x 1200 meters. Smaller, clipped aliquots are found along the Fed/State OCS boundary and along UTM zone borders. This dataset includes columns indicating the presence or absence of a GCAMP layer. All GCAMP vector layers were intersected with the aliquots to produce a feature count per aliquot. If the feature contained a quantifiable measure (length, area, quanity, etc), either the sum or average was aggregated to the aliquout. GCAMP raster data was aggregated to the aliqouts using zonal statistics. Cell averages, sums, and mins and maximums were aggregated.
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Copyright Text: Georgia Tech Center for Geographic Information Systems
Description: Georgia's beaches serve as important nesting habitat for sea turtles. Sea turtles are considered an endangered species by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Sea Turtle Nesting GIS layer captures areas along Georgia's coast where nesting has occurred or could potentially occur. A one kilometer grid was established along the coast and cells were selected if they contained suitable nesting habitat. The layer is intended to be used for initial planning with further consultation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section. THIS LAYER DOES NOT REPRESENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY OR DEMARCATION.
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Copyright Text: Mark Dodd, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section
Description: Georgia's beaches serve as important nesting habitat for sea turtles. Sea turtles are considered an endangered species by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Sea turtles migrate to Georgia waters annually from May through August. The Sea Turtle Aquatic habitat GIS layer captures areas along Georgia's coast that sea turtles occupy during their migration. During nesting season sea turtles can be encountered in the ocean, sounds, and estuaries. The layer is intended to be used for initial planning with further consultation with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division Nongame Conservation Section. THIS LAYER DOES NOT REPRESENT REGULATORY AUTHORITY OR DEMARCATION.
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Copyright Text: Mark Dodd, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, Nongame Conservation Section.