Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA)

Type of content: 
Maps
Year Published: 
2006
Topics of the content: 
Ecosystem Management
Geographical Information: 
Global
Tags: 
LME

The International Global Waters Assessment will be based on assessments of 66 international waters, of the ecological status of these water areas and the causes of environmental problems of the regions — international waters comprising marine, coastal and freshwater areas, and surface waters as well as groundwaters — in nine major regions. Focus will be on the key issues and problems facing the aquatic environment in these international waters.

All the regions can be found on the temporary map. Links are provided from the map to pages with some basic information about each region.
Please note that the map only gives rough indications of the geographic location of the 66 water regions. It contains no information on drainage areas and is not to be viewed as more than a simple geographic guide.

 

Please note that this draft map is under production. It only gives rough indications of the geographic location of the 66 water regions. It contains no information on drainage areas, and is thus not to be viewed as more than a simple geographic guide. In some cases the Subregional numbering and delineations does not correspond to the table below. This map will be updated regularly by the GIWA Core Team.  

 

* indicates Large Marine Ecosystem, LME:
"regions of ocean space encompassing
coastal areas from river basins and estuaries
to the seaward boundary of continental shelves and the seaward margins of coastal current systems. They are relatively large regions characterized by distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity, and tropically dependent populations." See also Rhode Island University map of LMEs.


Arctic

1. Arctic

North Atlantic

2. Gulf of Mexico*
3. Caribbean Sea*
4. Caribbean Islands
5. Southeast Shelf*
6. Northeast Shelf*
7. Scotian Shelf*
8. Gulf of St. Lawrence
9. Newfoundland Shelf*
10. Baffin Bay, Labrador Sea, Canadian Arch.
11. Barents Sea*
12. Norwegian Sea*
13. Faroe plateau
14. Iceland Shelf *
15. East Greenland Shelf*
16. West Greenland Shelf*
17. Baltic Sea*
18. North Sea*
19. Celtic-Biscay Shelf*
20. Iberian Coastal*

 

21. Mediterranean Sea*
22. Black Sea*
23. Caspian Sea
24. Aral Sea

North Pacific

25. Gulf of Alaska*
26. California Current*
27. Gulf of California*
28. East Bering Sea*
29. West Bering Sea*
30. Sea of Okhotsk*
31. Oyashio Current*
32. Kuroshio Current*
33. Sea of Japan*
34. Yellow Sea*
35. Bohai Sea
36. East-China Sea*
37. Hawaiian Archipelago*

Eastern South America

38. Patagonian Shelf*
39. Brazil Current*
40. Northeast Brazil Shelf*
40a. Brazilian Northeast
40b. Amazon

Sub-Saharan Africa

41. Canary Current*
42. Guinea Current*
43. Lake Chad
44. Benguela Current*
45a. Agulhas Current*
45b. Indian Ocean Islands

 

46. Somali Coastal Current*
47. East African Rift Valley Lakes

Indian Ocean

48. Gulf of Aden
49. Red Sea*
50. The Gulf
51. Jordan (land-locked river system)
52. Arabian Sea*
53. Bay of Bengal

Southeast Asia and the South Pacific

54. South China Sea*
55. Mekong River
56. Sulu-Celebes Sea*
57. Indonesian Seas*
58. North Australian Shelf*
59. Coral Sea Basin
60. Great Barrier Reef*
61. Great Australian Bight
62. Small Island States
63. Tasman Sea

Southeast Pacific

64. Humboldt Current*
65. Eastern Equatorial Pacific

Antarctic

66. Antarctic*

 

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