NOAA Fisheries Rocky Reefs Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) GIS data for the West Coast USA, v.2025-06 (NCEI Accession 0313075)

These data show the geographic distribution of Rocky Reefs Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC), out to the deepest edge of available substrate data (i.e., varying between 2,500 and 4,000 m water depth, depending on latitude) on the West Coast of the contiguous United States. Rocky Reefs HAPC includes those waters, substrates and other biogenic features associated with hard substrate (bedrock, boulders, cobble, gravel, etc.) to the mean higher high water line. These data were derived directly from a regional substrate habitat dataset - the Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership’s (PMEP) "West Coast USA Nearshore CMECS Substrate Habitat." The PMEP Substrate Habitat dataset is a data compilation that includes 70 input datasets with substrate attributes cross-walked into Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) Substrate Component (SC) ecological units. CMECS SC units were aligned with the definition of Rocky Reefs HAPC, and a new attribute field was included in the PMEP Substrate Habitat dataset to facilitate a simple attribute query for extracting the Rocky Reefs HAPC polygons.