Caribbean Marine Protected Areas (points)

This dataset is an inventory of Marine Protected Areas in the Wider Caribbean region with their point locations. This list was developed under the Reefs at Risk Caribbean project and relied on literature and other studies. Gathering information on MPAs across the region is very difficult and, as such, this list does not pertain to be exhaustive or complete. Additionally, as the dataset was developed for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of protection afforded coral reefs - there may be some selective bias towards those directly relevant to coral reefs (for example, no protected turtle nesting beaches are in the dataset). However, at the time of production of this inventory, spatial information and assessment of management effectiveness - no other data source exists. Future work in this area lies with the CaMPAM initiative (http://www.gcfi.org/campam/CaMPAM.htm).