Boundaries and protected areas

Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) boundaries downloaded from JNCC website and used under Open Government Licence for public sector information.

Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) boundaries downloaded from Natural England website and used under Open Government Licence for public sector information.

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) downloaded from JNCC website and used under Open Government Licence for public sector information.

Inshore fisheries regulator (IFCA) boundaries provided by IFCAs.

Scottish NCMPA data downloaded from Scottish Natural Heritage website.

Study area boundaries derived from:

UKHO marine boundaries (OGLv3)

Welsh Marine Plan area spatial data (OGLv2)

Scottish Assessment areas spatial data (contains information from the Scottish Government licensed under OGLv3)

VLIZ MarineRegions v11 (Flanders Marine Institute 2019. Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. doi:10.14284/386)

Closed areas

Closed areas have been derived directly from byelaws. Landward components have been derived from Ordnance Survey Mean High Water (OS OpenData, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2019).

Background mapping

Background mapping is OpenStreetMap © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Broad-scale habitats

EMODnet/MESH habitat maps from survey (seagrass, sand, mud, mixed sediments)

UKSeaMap (2018v2)

Global Fishing Watch

Kroodsma, David A., Juan Mayorga, Timothy Hochberg, Nathan A. Miller, Kristina Boerder, Francesco Ferretti, Alex Wilson et al. "Tracking the global footprint of fisheries." Science 359, no. 6378 (2018): 904-908.

Carbon Calculations

Luisetti, T., Turner, R.K., Andrews, J.E., Jickells, T.D., Kröger, S., Diesing, M., Paltriguera, L., Johnson, M.T., Parker, E.R., Bakker, D.C.E., Weston, K., 2019. Quantifying and valuing carbon flows and stores in coastal and shelf ecosystems in the UK. Ecosystem Services 35, 67–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2018.10.013

The Wildlife Trusts' (August 2025) MPA Recovery Check Assessment

Available at https://mpa-reality-check.org/. Full methodology, assumptions and limitations and terms of use statement available here.

Additional Activities

The Crown Estate (Offshore Wind, Tidal, Wave, Natural Gas Storage, CCS, Mining, Aggregates, Aquaculture). Contains data provided by The Crown Estate that is protected by copyright and database rights.

UK Licensed disposal areas (Cefas). Data from Cefas (https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/407), contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence.

Oil and Gas Infrastructure. NSTA data (arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=de6cbb70debf40958bb9192b3bfee8c4) contains information provided by the OGA (updated 03-2024).

IMO routeing measures. Contains data provided by the UK Hydrographic Office, Open Government License v3.

Other

Various datasets may have been derived from Ordnance Survey data, refer to individual data for terms of use.