This dataset represents US counties and independent cities which have at least one coastal border and select non-coastal counties and independent cities based on proximity to estuaries and other coastal counties.

This dataset represents US states and equivalent territorial units which have at least one coastal border.

These data show the location of available and discontinued ocean disposal sites within U.S. waters. Contemporary ocean disposal sites generally accept clean dredged material (sediment) collected during navigation channel improvement projects. These projects are sponsored and-or regulated by federal and state agencies. The terminology and practices used in ocean disposal have changed considerably over time. The values in the Primary Use field in this database show some of that variability.

These data show the location of ocean observing assets within U.S. waters, and the physical parameters generally collected at each platform or gauge.

These data show the location of aquaculture operations within coastal and offshore waters of the United States. Aquaculture types may include aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants. Records were acquired from multiple sources, however source data was not available from all coastal states.

These Outer Continental Shelf lease blocks or aliquots represent areas where sand resources have been identified through reconnaissance and/or design-level OCS studies. Additional OCS studies may be necessary in order to refine and quantify the extents of sand resources within these areas.

These data represent operable electric generating plants within the vicinity of the U.S. coastline by energy source. This includes all plants that are operating, on standby, or short or long-term out of service with a combined nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or more. The presence of a facility may indicate that power transmission infrastructure exists nearby. The absence of a facility or lack of sufficient capacity at a facility in a given area may be an important characteristic in future energy planning activities.

These data represent state geographic location descriptions (GLDs). Section 307 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, called the "federal consistency" provision, provides states with review authority of federal actions in areas outside of the state coastal zone, which they otherwise would not have, for activities that may affect a state's coastal uses or resources. Federal license or permit, and federal financial assistance activities that are listed in state coastal management programs for an accompanying GLD are subject to state review. All listings and GLDs must be approved by NOAA.

These data show the geographic representation of Federal and State Waters for the purpose of display in the MarineCadastre.gov OceanReports application. The boundary between state and federal waters was determined by consulting The Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. §§ 1301 et seq.), 48 U.S.C. §§ 1705 and The Abandoned Shipwreck Act (43 U.S.C. §§ 2101). Some boundary delineations based on the SLA were approximated in this data set, including areas in Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington State. Although state boarders do not extend over water, it was necessary to approximate these borders to produce this data set. The boundaries depicted in this data set are for visual purposes only. The placement of these boundaries was extrapolated from the Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries as described here http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/05-24659.pdf. The delineation between waters under US sovereign territory jurisdiction and that of federal governance is also approximate. Although based upon legislation, these data do not represent legal boundaries, especially in the case of Navassa Island, The Northern Mariana Islands, Baker Island, Howland Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Wake Islands and Jarvis Island.The seaward limit of this data set is the boundary of the 200nm US Exclusive Economic Zone. The EEZ is measured from the US baseline, recognized as the low-water line along the coast as marked on NOAA's nautical charts in accordance with articles of the Laws of the Sea. These limits are ambulatory and subject to revision based on changes in coastline geometry. This dataset was produced based on an update to the Maritime Limits published in September, 2013. To view the most up-to-date Maritime Limits, please see http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/csdl/mbound.htm. Navassa Island does not have an EEZ around it, so the seaward extent of the federal waters surrounding it were based on the 12 mile offshore boundary of the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge established on the island. All data is displayed in WGS_1984_World_Mercator. Area calculations for all states except Alaska were completed in the same projection. Area calculations for Alaska were completed in Alaska Albers Equal Area Conic.

These data provide an accurate high-resolution shoreline compiled from imagery of Portland, ME . This vector shoreline data is based on an office interpretation of imagery that may be suitable as a geographic information system (GIS) data layer. This metadata describes information for both the line and point shapefiles. The NGS attribution scheme 'Coastal Cartographic Object Attribute Source Table (C-COAST)' was developed to conform the attribution of various sources of shoreline data into one attribution catalog. C-COAST is not a recognized standard, but was influenced by the International Hydrographic Organization's S-57 Object-Attribute standard so the data would be more accurately translated into S-57. This resource is a member of https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/39808