This polygon shapefile represents the 3 nautical mile offshore jusdictional boundary for the State of California. The file is a polyline digitized from 200k scale NOAA charts by the California Department of Fish and Game, Marine Region GIS Lab in July 2001. This line more accurately overlays the 3 nautical mile distance from the California coast as represented on NOAA charts, when compared to previously used layers. Features represent all islands and the coastal mainland from the Mexico to Oregon borders. Attributes include (but not limited to) planar surface area and linar coastal distance. This layer is part of a collection of data created by the California Department of Fish & Game. To represent a 3 nautical mile state jurisdiction boundry for the state of California. This file was created to address issues of previously created files not properly overlaying NOAA definition of the boundary as drawn on published NOAA charts. Previously used files were created from buffers of coastline files. This file attempts to conform to NOAA's definition of the boundary. This file has yet to be reviewed by NOAA. This is by no means an official representation of jurisdiction. File was created by CDFG GIS lab Monterey, CA and was inteded for internal use. Line created from an interpretation of a best fit scenario. Navigation or regulation should not be based on this data. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
