These boundaries represent the territorial sea for U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands, including Hawaii, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, as well as the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands of Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island. Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles (12 nmi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships are allowed innocent passage through it; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below.

These boundaries represent the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) for U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands, including Hawaii, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Republic of Palau, as well as the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands of Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island. Under the law of the sea, an EEZ is a sea zone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. It stretches out to 200 nautical miles from its coast.

Shorelines of all U.S. Pacific and affiliated territories. Compiled from individual shoreline layers.

Shorelines of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

Village Boundaries - Marshall Islands

Village boundaries of Manu'a, American Samoa: Ofu, Olosega and Ta'u.

Village boundaries of Swains Island, American Samoa

County boundaries of Manu'a, American Samoa: Ofu, Olosega, and Ta'u.

Municipal boundaries of Guam, Mariana Islands.

Boundary of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM), located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). Created in 2006, Papahanaumokuakea is the largest conservation area in the U.S. and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. It is home to extensive coral reefs harboring over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in Hawaii. Many of the islands and shallow water environments are important habitats for rare species such as the threatened green sea turtle and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. Significant cultural Native Hawaiian sites can also be found on the islands of Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker Island). Co-managed with the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the monument preserves one of the most untouched areas of coral reef in the world. This layer shows the PMNM boundary after its expansion in 2016. On August 26, 2016, President Obama signed a proclamation expanding the monument from 139,797 square miles (362,073 square kilometers) to 582,578 square miles (1,508,870 square kilometers). This extended the monument boundary westward of -163 degrees longitude out to Hawaii's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at 200 nautical miles offshore. The present layer shows the monument boundary as it existed *after* this expansion. To view the previous, smaller boundary, access the data layer for "hi_noaa_nwhi_papahanaumokuakea_2006" instead. NOTE: This layer is provided as polygon features. For polyline features, please see the layer named "hi_noaa_nwhi_papahanaumokuakea_line" instead. Both polygon and polyline formats are provided for this dataset because the monument boundary spans the antimeridian (+/-180 degrees longitude) making it difficult to display in many GIS software applications without showing a division at the antimeridian.