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Waters off the coast of California are split into five distinct groundfish management areas used in the regulation and management of groundfish fisheries. All fishing areas extend from the shoreline to 200 miles offshore. The latitudinal boundaries for each fishing area are as follows:Northern Management Area: The California-Oregon border to Cape Mendocino (40°10 N. latitude)Mendocino Management Area: Cape Mendocino (40°10 N. latitude) to Point Arena (38°57.5 N. latitude)San Francisco Management Area: Point Arena (38°57.5 N. latitude) to Pigeon Point (37°11 N. latitude)Central Management Area: Pigeon Point (37°11 N. latitude) to Point Conception (34°27 N. latitude)Within the Central Groundfish Management Area, seasons and depth restrictions may differ north and south of a line extending west of 36° N. lat. (near Point Lopez, Monterey County). The areas north and south of this line are referred to as the Central Groundfish Management Area '' North 36° N. lat. and the Central Groundfish Management Area '' South of 36° N. lat.Southern Management Area: Point Conception (34°27 N. latitude) to the U.S.-Mexico borderAttributes:Region: Northern, Mendocino, San Francisco, Central, Southern.Detail: Latitudinal boundaries of management areas.

This feature depicts the 20-fathom boundary waypointsthat can be used in California groundfish regulations. The 20-fathom boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in California regulations (California Code of Regulations Title 14, Section 35.00) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. This boundary, as well as the federal Rockfish Conservation Areas, are used in recreational and commercial groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern. For both the recreational and commercial fisheries, boundary lines may change during the year, between seasons and management area. Attributes:id_area: unique identifying number for a particular coordinate within a particular line.area_name: identifying name for a particular line at a particular depth contour, primarily distinguishes between coastwide lines and lines around islands.lat_dd: Decimal degree latitude of the waypoint.lon_dd: Decimal degree longitude of the waypoint.lat_ddm: Decimal degree minute latitude of the waypoint.lon_ddm: Decimal degree minute longitude of the waypoint.region: Groundfish Management Zone that the waypoint is in.

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This feature depicts the 20-fathom boundary waypointsthat can be used in California groundfish regulations. The 20-fathom boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in California regulations (California Code of Regulations Title 14, Section 35.00) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. This boundary, as well as the federal Rockfish Conservation Areas, are used in recreational and commercial groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern. For both the recreational and commercial fisheries, boundary lines may change during the year, between seasons and management area. Attributes:id_area: unique identifying number for a particular coordinate within a particular line.area_name: identifying name for a particular line at a particular depth contour, primarily distinguishes between coastwide lines and lines around islands.lat_dd: Decimal degree latitude of the waypoint.lon_dd: Decimal degree longitude of the waypoint.lat_ddm: Decimal degree minute latitude of the waypoint.lon_ddm: Decimal degree minute longitude of the waypoint.region: Groundfish Management Zone that the waypoint is in.

This feature depicts the 20-fathom boundary waypointsthat can be used in California groundfish regulations. The 20-fathom boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in California regulations (California Code of Regulations Title 14, Section 35.00) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. This boundary, as well as the federal Rockfish Conservation Areas, are used in recreational and commercial groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern. For both the recreational and commercial fisheries, boundary lines may change during the year, between seasons and management area. Attributes:id_area: unique identifying number for a particular coordinate within a particular line.area_name: identifying name for a particular line at a particular depth contour, primarily distinguishes between coastwide lines and lines around islands.lat_dd: Decimal degree latitude of the waypoint.lon_dd: Decimal degree longitude of the waypoint.lat_ddm: Decimal degree minute latitude of the waypoint.lon_ddm: Decimal degree minute longitude of the waypoint.region: Groundfish Management Zone that the waypoint is in.

This feature depicts the 20-fathom boundary waypointsthat can be used in California groundfish regulations. The 20-fathom boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in California regulations (California Code of Regulations Title 14, Section 35.00) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. This boundary, as well as the federal Rockfish Conservation Areas, are used in recreational and commercial groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern. For both the recreational and commercial fisheries, boundary lines may change during the year, between seasons and management area. Attributes:id_area: unique identifying number for a particular coordinate within a particular line.area_name: identifying name for a particular line at a particular depth contour, primarily distinguishes between coastwide lines and lines around islands.lat_dd: Decimal degree latitude of the waypoint.lon_dd: Decimal degree longitude of the waypoint.lat_ddm: Decimal degree minute latitude of the waypoint.lon_ddm: Decimal degree minute longitude of the waypoint.region: Groundfish Management Zone that the waypoint is in.

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Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) are closed areas for west coast groundfish fisheries and for some fisheries that may incidentally take groundfish as bycatch. The RCA boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in federal regulations (See 50 CFR 660.71-660.74) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. RCA boundaries are used in groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern and may change between seasons and Recreational Fishing Management Areas. Attributes:area_name: Unique name field identifying depth and location of waypoint.Fathom: Approximate depth in fathoms of waypoint.Region: Describes which of the five groundfish management zones the waypoint is in.lat_DDM: Latitude in Decimal Degrees Minutes format.lon_DDM: Longitude in Decimal Degrees Minutes format.lat_DD: Latitude in Decimal Degrees format.lon_DD: Longitude in Decimal Degrees format.

Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) are closed areas for west coast groundfish fisheries and for some fisheries that may incidentally take groundfish as bycatch. The RCA boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in federal regulations (See 50 CFR 660.71-660.74) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. RCA boundaries are used in groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern and may change between seasons and Recreational Fishing Management Areas. The process of digitizing these boundary lines is as follows:30, 40, 50, 100, and 150fm waypoint .csv files at were downloaded from NOAA''s West Coast Groundfish Closed Areas website https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/sustainable-fisheries/west-coast-groundfish-closed-areas and imported into ArcGIS Pro.Each point feature was clipped to the borders of California state waters and merged together.“Fathom” was added as a field to each shapefile and populated with the corresponding depth in fathoms.Boundary lines for each shapefile (30, 40, 50, 100, and 150 fm) were created using the “Points to line” tool. Line Field: “area_name”Attribute Source: Start PointTransfer Fields: FID, area_name, Fathom Attributes:area_name: Unique name field displaying depth and locationFathom: Approximate depth in fathoms of contour lineRegion: Describes which of the five groundfish management zones the section of the contour line is in