Abstract:
This record comprises six datasets related to the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) Marine Protected Area (MPA) review undertaken in 2025. The SGSSI MPA is one of the world's largest MPAs, and in April 2025 the area of the MPA in which fishing is prohibited was greatly expanded following the second five-year MPA review in 2024. Details of the new measures can be found within the latest legislation (SGSSI Gazette No 2 dated 22 April 2025: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes/), and the datasets here relate directly to the areas and boundaries referred to in these measures.
These datasets are:
-The boundary of the SGSSI MPA
-No Take Zones
-General Benthic Closed Areas
-Research Benthic Closed Areas
-Pelagic Closed Areas
-General Fisheries Zones
The datasets are available as shapefiles.
This work has been funded directly by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands with additional financial support from the UK Government Blue Belt programme.
Keywords:
Marine Protected Areas, South Georgia, conservation, fishing, protection
Hogg, O., Gerrish, L., & Belchier, M. (2026). South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area boundaries, 2025 update (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/aaa200d9-70b7-4078-9450-3706b01f052a
| 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 | Dr Oliver T Hogg |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact |
| Organisation | Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science |
| 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 |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | SGSSI Gazette No 2. Dated 22 April 2025: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes/ | |
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| Lineage/Methodology: | The data was created using Esri ArcGIS Pro, following the parameters set out in the latest legislation (SGSSI Gazette No 2 dated 22 April 2025: https://laws.gov.gs/gazettes/). Shapefiles were created in a custom equal area projection, which was used to calculate accurate areas stated in the legislation. 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 | 2025-04-22 |
| End Date | N/A |
| 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 ArcGIS Pro v3.5. |
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| Distribution: | |
|---|---|
| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | N/A |
| Distribution Format | SHP |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | Six shapefiles and associated files as follows: 1. sgssi_mpa.shp [784KB] 2. no_take_zones.shp [2.3MB] 3. general_benthic_closed_areas.shp [2.7MB] 4. research_benthic_closed_areas.shp [4KB] 5. pelagic_closed_areas.shp [324KB] 6. general_fisheries_zones.shp [2.2MB] |