Should the MPA be included in the UN list of MPAs for that location/country/territory? i.e. is it included on the official governmental list of MPAs for that location?

Location that MPA occurs in - please select the most appropriate and accurate location from the drop-down list. This can be the high seas, a country's EEZ, an overseas territory or dependency (with varying levels of autonomy), a non-contiguous but administrative subdivision of a country (e.g. Alaska) Examples: select Galapagos Islands (not Ecuador) for Galapagos National Park; Ecuador for Isla Santay; Hawaii (not USA) for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

For reference, WCPA regions are outlined in the map below.

MPA Name in original/local language and alphabet / script Example: Karlsøvær / Kråkvågsvaet / Isla Malpelo / 三亚珊瑚礁

English translation of MPA Name, using only Latin alphabet. Example: Karlsoevaer / Kraakvaagsvaet / Malpelo Island / Sanyashanhujiao

MPA designation type (as agreed through legal or non-statutory mechanisms), in original/local language and alphabet / script Examples: Santuario de Fauna y Flora / Заповедник / Aire Marine Protégée

English translation of the MPA designation type (as agreed through legal or non-statutory mechanisms), using only Latin alphabet; Examples: Fauna and Flora Sanctuary / Strict Nature Reserve (Zapovednik) / Marine Protected Area

Officially agreed status of the designation Options: Formally designated = legally designated, Informally designated = through non-statutory means e.g. customary agreement, Retired = legally degazetted or no-longer considered designated

Date on which the MPA was first CREATED / DESIGNATED through legal or non-statutory mechanisms

It should not be assumed that human activities within the MPA were subjected to regulation immediately upon creation of the MPA, or as a direct result of MPA designation. It should also not be assumed that any such regulations, if and when they were created, were effectively implemented and complied with from this date. Multiple layers of regulatory protection often develop within the first 5-10 years of an MPA’s existence, ranging from regulatory rule-making to active, and eventually effective, management with high levels of compliance.

Name of legislation / non-statutory agreement used to designate the site, in the original language.

Year of legislation / non-statutory agreement used to designate the site

Is there a GIS shapefile of the MPA boundary available?

Acceptable formats: KML, ESRI shapefile or .e00 interchange file preferred

Metadata for the spatial boundary data. Please provide as much metadata as you have available, ideally as XML, and according to FGDC standards. As a minimum, please provide: Author, Name of dataset, Year, Version, Status (draft, ongoing or final), original datum, Contact name, Contact email.

Latitude of the central point within the MPA boundary. This should be a decimal number, preferably to a precision level of at least 4 decimal places. Should be between +90 (north) and -90 (south). Be sure to insert a - sign for southern latitudes.

Longitude of the central point within the MPA boundary. This should be a decimal number, preferably to a precision level of at least 4 decimal places. Should be between +180 (east) and -180 (west). Be sure to insert a - sign for western longitudes.

The total area contained within the MPA boundary. This includes land, freshwater, marine habitats etc. Please provide this as km2, with a precision level of at least 1 decimal place.

The area of sea contained within the MPA boundary. This is the area below the mean high water mark. Inland marine/saline areas should only be considered marine if there is a permanent, surface connection to the sea. Please provide area in km2, with a precision level of at least 1 decimal place.

Boundary includes intertidal habitat - i.e. area between mean high and mean low water marks

Boundary includes subtidal habitat - i.e. area below mean low water mark

Specified and agreed objective for managing the area as an MPA. Where there are multiple objectives for an MPA, provide a new entry for each by clicking '+Add Objective'. There is no prioritisation or hierarchy implied by the order in which management objectives are entered.

Name of organisation(s) responsible for active management of the MPA. This can be one or more organisation(s), and/or be a council consisting of specified members. Please summarise as succinctly as possible what the management organisational structure is like.

URL of website for management organisation. Where there are multiple organisations involved in active management of the MPA, provide a new entry for each by clicking '+Add Organisation URL'.

This is the date from which active management of the MPA began. This may be the same as the date the site was first designated, or it may be later. It should not be assumed to be an indication of effective management. Active management implies that regulations for human activities have been decided upon, and efforts are being made actively, regularly and in accordance with the needs of the MPA.

This is the date from which active management of the site stopped, for example if resources required for management (such as monitoring, communication, education, and enforcement resources) became inadequate or non-existent.

The management regime category represents a simplification of the IUCN categories, and they map onto the IUCN categories. The purpose of the management regime categorisation is to facilitate and speed up the process to allocate a category to an MPA(s), either where no IUCN management category has yet been assigned, or where the IUCN management categories need to be reassessed. Please see further guidelines at URL. If you would prefer to work only with IUCN management categories, please do so; however, please be sure to review the IUCN management category guidelines and confirm that the IUCN management category currently assigned to the MPA is correct.

IUCN protected area management category. Please see the guidelines at URL. For zoned MPAs where each zone also has its own IUCN category, please consider adding full information for that zone (click 'Add zone' at the top of the page).

URL of the website for the actual MPA

One-liner that characterises the MPA / zone. This should be a short, punchy sentence (max 60 characters) that describes the essence or defining feature of the MPA.

The story snippet should be a very short sentence (max 60 characters) that a) makes sense by itself and b) provides the main point of the story and c) provokes interest in the user to want to click on it and read the longer story. This snippet will be directly visible in Google Earth and it will also act as a link to a second, longer, and more detailed version of the story.

The full story expands upon the snippet. It is still length limited, however (600 characters), and can describe any aspect of an MPA, for example:

• why the MPA was created;
• what special features and/or species it protects;
• international recognitions of the MPA (e.g. World Heritage, Ramsar, etc);
• what has changed in the MPA since protection (e.g. size and/or abundance of species);
• regulations that are applied in the MPA;
• how compliance with the regulations is achieved;
• the management model used;
• the planning process used to design the MPA;
• diving conditions in the MPA;
• things to do and see in the MPA;
• historical factoids about the MPA;

URL to the photograph on Panoramio - please be sure to provide the full URL to the exact photo.

This should be a short description (max 50 characters) of what the photo shows. It could be a species name (but please also provide common name), an explanation of an activity, a view of the MPA, etc.

Please provide the appropriate attribution for the photo.

URL to video on YouTube - please be sure to provide the full URL to the exact video.

This should be a short description (max 50 characters) of what the video shows. It could be a species name (but please also provide common name), an explanation of an activity, a view of the MPA, etc.

Please provide the appropriate attribution for the video.

Trusted data providers may select to 'lock down' core data fields once the official, approved data have been provided for that MPA. Once the core data have been locked down, further changes to the site are still possible, but will be subject to an email review process. The purpose of this locking facility is to enable quality control of reliable core data.

The changes submitted represent an official (legally or non-statutorily agreed) change to the MPA, rather than an editorial correction to missing / erroneous data. These changes will be used to create an historical snapshot of the MPA.

Click here if you wish to provide full information for a zone within this MPA.

Click here if you wish to provide full information for an internationally or regionally recognised version of this MPA, e.g. World Heritage Site, Ramsar Site, Man and the Biosphere Site, Habitats Directive site, etc. Data for these MPAs is stored independently of the data for the MPAs that overlap with them that have been created using ENABLING legislation or agreements (e.g. national, provincial or municipal law, community agreements, multilateral agreements). However, it is important to add the recognised version of the MPA through the data window for the enabled MPA so that the linkages between them are explicit.

Search on the interactive MPA pages currently searches for exact word matches (in any order) only.

Fields searched include name, location, designation type, designation status, no take status, and IUCN management category.