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. Times is the default font for this site; 12 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 ensure simple printing. We recommend printing in portrait format at a scale of 85 to 100%.

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.

Table of Contents and Search This Site. These two pages appear on every page and provide additional access assistance. The Table of Contents is a complete listing of every page on the site. Search This Site is a standard word/phrase search through all text and documents (pdf) on the site's 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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