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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area boundaries, 2019 update

This record comprises nine datasets related to the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) Marine Protected Area (MPA) review undertaken in 2019. The SGSSI MPA is one of the world's largest MPAs, and the 2019 review led to a significant extension of the MPA area to cover all of the SGSSI Maritime Zone totalling 1.24 million km2. Details of the new measures can be found within the legislation (SG Gazette No 1. Dated 31 January 2019: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes ), and the datasets here relate directly to these measures.

The following datasets are published here, for which further information can be found in the legislation linked above:

-The boundary of the SGSSI MPA/Maritime Zone

-No Take Zones for South Georgia

-No Take Zones for Clerke and Shag rocks

-No Take Zones for South Sandwich Islands

-No Take Zones for South Sandwich Islands trench

-No Take Zones for South of 60degS

-Benthic Closed Areas

-Pelagic Closed Areas

-Heavy Fuel Oil Prohibition line

The datasets are available as shapefiles.

This work has been funded directly by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Simple

Date (Creation)
2026-01-16
Date (Revision)
2026-01-16
Date (Publication)
2026-01-16
Date (released)
2026-01-16
Edition
1.0
Unique resource identifier
https://doi.org/10.5285/191bbdb4-0d36-40b0-ab23-8079f23a1479
Codespace
doi
Unique resource identifier
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02138
Codespace
https://data.bas.ac.uk/
Other citation details
Please cite this item as: Gerrish, L., Belchier, M., & Field, E. (2026). South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area boundaries, 2019 update (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/191bbdb4-0d36-40b0-ab23-8079f23a1479
Credit
No credit.
Status
completed Completed
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Gerrish, Laura ( Researcher )
Author
  Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - Belchier, Mark ( Researcher )
Author
  British Antarctic Survey - Field, Elena ( Researcher )
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded As needed
Maintenance note
completed Completed
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > Human Dimensions > Boundaries
Theme
  • Marine Protected Areas
  • South Georgia
  • conservation
  • fishing
  • protection
Place
  • Scotia Sea Southern Ocean
  • South Georgia Island
  • Atlantic Ocean
  • South Sandwich Islands
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Human health and safety
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations to public access
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
license License
Other constraints
Open Government Licence v3.0
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
This data is supplied under Open Government Licence v.3
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
None.
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
dependency dependency
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Unique resource identifier
doi
Codespace
doi
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Unique resource identifier
url
Codespace
url
Association Type
crossReference Cross reference
Spatial representation type
textTable Text, table
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Topic category
  • Boundaries
N
S
E
W
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Begin date
2019-05-24
End date
2025-04-21
Supplemental Information
It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data, and that the author be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, please report them to polardatacentre@bas.ac.uk.
Date (Publication)
2008-11-12
Publisher
  European Petroleum Survey Group
https://www.epsg-registry.org/
Unique resource identifier
urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3031
Version
6.18.3

Distributor

Distributor
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
Units of distribution
bytes
Transfer size
3355443
OnLine resource
Get Data ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )

Download data

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Statement

Methodology:

The data were created using Esri ArcMap, following parameters set out in the legislation (SG Gazette No 1. Dated 31 January 2019: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes).

Areas were calculated using a custom equal area projection. This projection is an Albers Equal Area Conic projection with a central meridian of 34°W, standard parallels at 54°S and 60°S, and the latitude of origin at 57°S. The spheroid is WGS84. These calculations are recorded in the 'area_km2' attribute for each boundary feature.

Data collection:

Shapefiles were created using Esri ArcMap.

File identifier
191bbdb4-0d36-40b0-ab23-8079f23a1479 XML
Metadata language
engEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2026-01-16
Metadata standard name
ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
ISO 19115:2003(E)
Point of contact
  NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road , Cambridge , Cambridgeshire , CB3 0ET , United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 221400
https://www.bas.ac.uk/team/business-teams/information-services/uk-polar-data-centre/
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Keywords

Marine Protected Areas South Georgia conservation fishing protection
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Human health and safety
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords
EARTH SCIENCE > Human Dimensions > Boundaries

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