The List of National System MPAs is the official inventory of all MPAs that have been formally recognized as part of the national system. The MPAs on the List are those that went through the nomination process, and have been mutually agreed upon by both the MPA Center and the managing agency.
View the current List of National System MPAs. This List is current as of April 22, 2009, and contains all the mutually accepted MPAs that were nominated during the first round of nominations, available for public review from March 6 through April 6, 2009. You can view the response to public comments received on the first round of nominated sites here.
The List includes the following information for each national system MPA:
Name
Location
National system MPA category
Priority conservation objective(s) contributed to
Levels and types of protection
Managing authority or program
Information on key resources protected by national system MPAs is available at the website for each site provided on the List.
Information on authorizing legislation is in development and will be posted soon.
The MPA Center will publish an updated, summary version of the List in the Federal Register after every nomination round.
Modifying MPAs on the List
Participation in the national system does not constrain the management agency from changing its management of the MPA. The management agency retains the ability to add or reduce levels of protection, change the size of the MPA, or make other changes. Management agencies are asked to provide all significant updates to the MPA Center, but would not be required to re-nominate the site. If the MPA no longer meets the national system MPA eligibility criteria, it will be removed from the List.
Removing MPAs from the List
MPA sites or systems that have been included on the List may be removed at any time by written request of the managing agency or the MPA Center for reasons including: the MPA ceases to exist; the MPA no longer meets the national system eligibility criteria; or the managing authority requests removal.
All requests from managing agencies by the MPA Center to remove an MPA from the national system must be made in writing, and will be made publically available.
