Welcome to the West Coast of North America
Living Marine Resources Data Atlas Web site

Sample of map results using ArcView 3.x tool

The West Coast of North America Data Atlas was the fourth in a set of hardcopy atlases, published by NOAA's strategic assessment program during the late 1980's, covering the major coastal areas of the nation. This series was part of a national program characterizing potential conflicts among users of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and adjacent coastal areas. The goal of the strategic assessment program is to communicate this information to decision makers and public and private institutions involved in resource-use issues.

Two preliminary volumes covering the study area region from the Bering Sea south to the Gulf of California were published. The Marine Mammal volume presents information on the spatial and temporal distributions of 33 species. The Invertebrate and Fish volume contains 66 species. A map, description, vertical profile, and scale drawing are provided for each species. The map shows important areas by life stage, abundance, time period, and commercial and recreational use. The description is a written summary of scientific knowledge on topics such as life history attributes and catch statistics. For the digital atlas, all 99 species were included in the digitized geographic files.

This site is where you can download a GIS ArcView 3.x tool, data, images, and text that together can be used to create a CD-ROM that is the WCNA Digital Atlas.