Maryland Recreational Uses

This dataset contains recreational use information for Maryland's coastal and ocean areas compiled for ocean planning efforts to reduce marine-use conflicts, maximize use efficiency, and enhance environmental and economic productivity.

Members of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, collected information on how the public uses their coastal and ocean spaces through particpatory GIS workshops in 2012. These baseline data were collected to inform planning efforts being undertaken by various agencies. Collecting data on the variety of ways the public uses the Seaside Bays and Atlantic Ocean will help to plan for reducing use conflicts in our coastal waters, maximizing efficiency, and enhancing environmental and economic productivity. State and federally managed waters of the Mid-Atlantic and the U.S. are used in many ways: commercial fishing, aquaculture, shipping, military exercises, sand mining, habitat for wildlife, and recreation. With new and expanding coastal and ocean uses emerging such as energy production and increased shipping, the pressure is mounting to ensure that there is space for both traditional and new uses and that conflicts are minimized. Some mapped human use data existed, but prior to this project, the Mid-Atlantic states had no recreational water use data. This data was colected using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Center Participatory Mapping Method: http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov/dataanalysis/mapping_ocean_uses/welcome.html 

Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Protected Areas Center (MPAC) and Coastal Services Center (CSC), Maryland Department of Natural Resources

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