Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan Map & GIS Data for Southern North Carolina
Map and GIS data representing the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan (BDTRP) for southern North Carolina regulated state waters.
Bottlenose dolphin are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. The take reduction plans were developed to reduce incidental mortality and serious injury of strategic stocks of bottlenose dolphins from commercial fisheries in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Gear restricted under the BDTRP includes small, medium, and large mesh gillnets and pound nets.
These maps and corresponding Geographic Information Systems (GIS) shapefile data represent BDTRP management areas in the NOAA Fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The Federal Register (see FR link below) should be consulted for the precise legal definition of the management areas and geographic coordinates. Esri's ArcGIS software or Google Earth can be used to open GIS shapefiles. Google Earth can also be used to open zipped KML (KMZ) files to view the designated management areas. Click here to download Google Earth. Metadata (information about the GIS shapefile data) is available in XML or an easy-to-read HTML format.
71 FR 24775 Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan Federal Register Final Rule
See More Information links for BDTRP Amendments.
For more information or questions about this data please contact the GIS Coordinator at nmfs.ser.gis.coordinator@noaa.gov.