About this Site
The Marine Protected Areas of
the United States Web site will provide information
as required by Executive Order 13158, Marine Protected Areas. This page
describes the general purposes of the site and its organization, summarizes
editorial policies, and provides brief technical and navigational information.
Purpose and Principles
Editorial Policy
Technical Information
Purpose and Principles
Executive Order 13158, Marine Protected Areas, signed on May 26, 2000
states that "The Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the
Interior shall establish and jointly manage a website for information
on MPAs and Federal agency reports required by this order." The
order further mandates that "Federal agencies coordinate and share
information, tools and strategies." This Web site is a principal
medium to promote this sharing of information, to foster collaboration
among participating agencies, and to enhance the protection of existing
areas and establish new ones.
Following guidance from the Executive Order, the site is primarily
targeted to marine protected area managers and staff in federal agencies,
state, territorial and local governments, and tribal councils. It is
also designed to inform federal and state policy makers in the congressional
and executive branches on national progress towards a comprehensive
system of marine protected areas. Other important users include marine
researchers, educators and students.
The site is organized in three principal parts, as seen on the Home
Page. The first provides general descriptive information on marine protected
areas, such as what they are, the benefits they provide the nation,
and the challenges posed by the Executive Order. Additional pages will
be added in the months ahead. The second section offers services that
this Web site provides to users. Presently there are two: the MPA list
and inventory and the library. Currently, the inventory is a preliminary
database of marine areas under consideration for the MPA List. Both
of these services will be supported and enhanced regularly. The third
section contains specific activities identified in the Executive Order.
These are the establishment of an MPA Center, the formation of an MPA
Advisory Committee, and the publishing of agency progress reports.
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Editorial Policy
This site is jointly managed by the Departments of Commerce and the
Interior. As a federal government site, all federal editorial policies
apply, such as those on privacy, copyright, commercial promotion, etc.
Materials posted on this site are reviewed by professional staff in
these two agencies prior to publishing. Final decisions are made by
the site's editorial board.
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Technical Information
Browsers. This site is designed to be completely compatible
with Netscape Navigator (v4.0 and above, recommended) or Microsoft Internet
Explorer (v4.0 and above, recommended); however, other browsers can
also be used.
Access Time. Some pages on this site contain several
images. The purposes of these images are to provide necessary visual
supplements for the text (e.g., maps of marine protected areas) and
enhance the visual appeal of the page. All images have been provided
with captions that allow those readers who do not load images immediately
to select specific images for viewing. Pages have been developed to
load the text first. Some larger images are provided on the page in
reduced form. The caption provides access to a larger image in a separate
page.
Organization of Pages and Exhibits. Pages are organized
in a simple linear manner for easy reading and printing. Supplemental
material or exhibits (Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Text) are numbered
throughout the page.
Links. Some links are provided to other Web sites
as reference or supplemental material. External sites accessed by such
links will appear in a separate window.
Fonts and Type Sizes. Arial is the default font for
this site; 9 point is the default size. All browsers allow users to
select specific fonts and type sizes for display. Some users select
large type sizes for ease of reading, or specific fonts for personal
tastes. The text and layout should not be adversely affected by a user's
selection of alternative fonts and type sizes.
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Printing Pages. This site has been designed to fit
on 1024 by 768 screen setting. This will not fit on some printer settings,
so a button is provided to launch another window with same content just
for print.
Downloadable Documents. A number of documents are
available on this site as downloadable files in Portable Document Format
(pdf). These files can be viewed on microcomputers equipped with recent
versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe
Acrobat Reader can be downloaded for free from the site.
Navigation. Navigation through the site is straightforward.
There are three levels of hierarchy, most of which are always visible
to the user. The first level is on the left column. The second level
is on the top of the page. The third level is within the page for either
exhibits (see above), page markers, or branching pages.
For Further Technical Information. For questions or comments about
the technical aspects of this site, e-mail: mpaweb@noaa.gov.
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