Abstract:
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.
Keywords:
Marine Protected Areas, South Georgia, conservation, fishing, protection
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
| Access Constraints: | None. |
|---|---|
| Use Constraints: | This data is supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
| Creation Date: | 2026-01-16 |
|---|---|
| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Ms Laura Gerrish |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Mark Belchier |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact |
| Organisation | Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands |
| Name | Ms Elena Field |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | SG Gazette No 1. Dated 31 January 2019: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Lineage/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. |
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| Temporal Coverage: | |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 2019-05-24 |
| End Date | 2025-04-21 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -62.78601 |
| Northernmost | -50.63097 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -43.95615 |
| Easternmost | -19.90238 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Southern Ocean |
| Detailed Location | Scotia Sea |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | N/A |
| Location | Atlantic Ocean |
| Detailed Location | N/A |
| Location | South Sandwich Islands |
| Detailed Location | N/A |
| Data Collection: | Shapefiles were created using Esri ArcMap. |
|---|
| Distribution: | |
|---|---|
| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | N/A |
| Distribution Format | SHP |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | Nine shapefiles and associated files as follows: 1. sg_mpa.shp [596KB] 2. sg_mpa_notake_sg30km.shp [1.4MB] 3. sg_mpa_notake_clerkeshag.shp [36KB] 4. sg_mpa_notake_ssi50km.shp [208KB] 5. sg_mpa_notake_ssitrench50km.shp [4KB] 6. sg_mpa_notake_s60s.shp [184KB] 7. sg_mpa_benthic_closed_areas.shp [8KB] 8. sg_mpa_pelagic_closed_areas.shp [180KB] 9. sg_mpa_fuel_line.shp [4KB] |