![\"Creative](\"https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia/images/cc/by-sa.png\")
The IUCN MMPATF IMMA is a joint project between the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).
IMMA layer indicates discrete portions of habitat, important to marine mammal species that have the potential to be delineated and managed for conservation.
IMMAs are not marine protected areas (MPAs). IMMAs are identified based on scientific expert knowledge, along with peer review, in order to prioritise their consideration for conservation measures by governments, intergovernmental organisations, conservation groups, industry or business, and the general public.
","EngDescr":"The IMMA spatial layer aims to attract the attention of policy- and decision-makers to the opportunity, as well as to the need, to ensure the favourable conservation status of marine mammals in specific areas through the implementation of the most appropriate management measures. This can include an MPA designation, shipping or fishing regulations, and/or monitoring. However, IMMAs per se are a scientific knowledge product totally devoid of management implications.
Dedicated efforts to identify IMMAs have not yet covered all of the global ocean but global coverage is anticipated in the near future.
Waters outside of IMMAs in all areas of the ocean may still be important for the long-term survival and well-being of marine mammals.
Human activities taking place in marine environments everywhere must be conducted responsibly.
Information described include the name, location, marine mammal species of importance, the broad level and finer sub-divisions criteria used, and the area size of the IMMA.
The IUCN IMMA layer has been created to be compatible with and inform the identification of other area-based management tools and conservation prioritisation areas and include but are not restricted to Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA), Key Biodiversity Area (KBA), Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA), RAMSAR Convention Site (RAMSAR), Cetacean Critical Habitat (CCH), Biologically Important Area (BIA) and Important Shark and Ray Area (ISRA).
For more information about IMMAs and to download the layers and obtain information on species and criteria, please go to the IMMA website: www.marinemammalhabitat.org
","OrigAbstract":null,"OrigDescr":null,"Comments":null,"ReleaseDate":null,"ReleaseDate0":null,"OrigDescrLang":null,"EmbargoDate":null,"OrigDescrLangNL":null,"OrigLangCode":null,"OrigLangCodeExtended":null,"OrigLangID":null,"DescrCompFlag":null,"DescrTransFlag":null,"Citation":"IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPATF) (2025). Important Marine Mammal Areas. https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/imma-eatlas/","AccessConstraints":null,"UDate":"2025-09-29","CDate":"2025-07-01","CurrencyDate":null,"RevisionDate":null,"DateLastModified":{"date":"2025-09-29 11:27:23.337761","timezone_type":1,"timezone":"+02:00"},"CheckedFlag":1,"PublicFlag":1,"VlizCoreFlag":1,"MarineFlag":null,"FreshFlag":0,"BrackishFlag":0,"TerrestrialFlag":0,"StatusID":1,"DasType":"Data products","DasTypeID":23,"DasOrigin":"Research","Progress":"Completed","AccessConstraint":"Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)","AccConstrEN":"Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)","AccConstrDisplay":" This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.","License":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","AccConstrDescription":"This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.","Lineage":"IMMA Handbook available via https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/download/handbook-on-the-use-of-selection-criteria-for-the-identification-of-important-marine-mammal-areas-immas/","AccConID":22},"dois":null,"spcols":[{"SpColID":552,"SpName":"EMODNET"}],"keywords":[{"ThesaurusTerm":"Biota","ThesTypID":16,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Topics","Code":"biota","Description":"Flora and/or fauna in natural environment.","OrigThesTerm":"Biota","DutchTerm":"Biota","URI":"https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/TopicCategory/biota","DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Data not evaluated","ThesTypID":17,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Conformity","Code":null,"Description":null,"OrigThesTerm":"Data not evaluated","DutchTerm":"Data niet gecontroleerd","URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Esri Shapefile","ThesTypID":19,"ThesType":"Spatial data formats","Code":null,"Description":null,"OrigThesTerm":"Esri Shapefile","DutchTerm":null,"URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Geoscientific Information","ThesTypID":16,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Topics","Code":"geoscientificInformation","Description":"Information pertaining to earth sciences.","OrigThesTerm":"Geoscientific Information","DutchTerm":"Geowetenschappelijke informatie","URI":"https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/TopicCategory/geoscientificInformation","DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Global","ThesTypID":31,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Spatial Scope","Code":null,"Description":null,"OrigThesTerm":"Global","DutchTerm":"Globaal","URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Habitats and biotopes","ThesTypID":7,"ThesType":"INSPIRE themes","Code":"hb","Description":"Geographical areas characterised by specific ecological conditions, processes, structure, and (life support) functions that physically support the organisms that live there. Includes terrestrial and aquatic areas distinguished by geographical, abiotic and biotic features, whether entirely natural or semi-natural.","OrigThesTerm":"Habitats and biotopes","DutchTerm":"Habitats en biotopen","URI":"https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/theme/hb","DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Metadata not evaluated","ThesTypID":17,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Conformity","Code":null,"Description":null,"OrigThesTerm":"Metadata not evaluated","DutchTerm":"Metadata niet gecontroleerd","URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"No limitations to public access","ThesTypID":20,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Limitations on public access","Code":"http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess/noLimitations","Description":"There are no limitations on public access to spatial data sets and services.","OrigThesTerm":"No limitations to public access","DutchTerm":"Geen beperkingen op publieke toegang","URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Oceans","ThesTypID":16,"ThesType":"INSPIRE Topics","Code":"oceans","Description":"Features and characteristics of salt water bodies (excluding inland waters).","OrigThesTerm":"Oceans","DutchTerm":"Oceanen","URI":"https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/TopicCategory/oceans","DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"Sea regions","ThesTypID":7,"ThesType":"INSPIRE themes","Code":"sr","Description":"Physical conditions of seas and saline water bodies divided into regions and sub-regions with common characteristics.","OrigThesTerm":"Sea regions","DutchTerm":"Zeegebieden","URI":"https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/theme/sr","DasKeywordDescr":null},{"ThesaurusTerm":"WGS84 (EPSG:4326)","ThesTypID":18,"ThesType":"Coordinate Reference System","Code":null,"Description":null,"OrigThesTerm":"WGS84 (EPSG:4326)","DutchTerm":null,"URI":null,"DasKeywordDescr":null}],"parents":null,"children":null,"othrel":null,"othrelrev":null,"ownerships":null,"taxterms":null,"frameworks":null,"otherterms":null,"temporal":[{"DasDateID":6440,"StartYear":2016,"EndYear":2025,"StartDay":null,"EndDay":null,"StartDate":"2016-09-01","EndDate":"2025-02-01","DasDate":null,"Resolution":null,"ResolutionNL":null,"Notes":null,"StartMonth0":9,"StartMonth":"September","StartMonthNL":"September","EndMonth0":2,"EndMonth":"February","EndMonthNL":"Februari","Progress":"Completed","ProgressNL":"Afgelopen"}],"geographical":[{"GeoTerm":"World Oceans","DasGeoID":15054,"DasGeoTerm":null,"DasID":8880,"GeotID":6100,"X":null,"Y":null,"MaxX":null,"MaxY":null,"StationName":null,"Precision":null,"CoordSystID":null,"GeoDatumID":null,"OrigCoordMinX":null,"OrigCoordMinY":null,"OrigCoordMaxX":null,"OrigCoordMaxY":null,"OrderNr":null,"Projection":null,"GeoDatum":null,"GeoObjectID":1901,"OrigGeoTerm":"World Oceans","DutchTerm":null}],"meastypes":[{"MethID":null,"DasMeasTypID":20542,"DasMeasType":"","Matrix":null,"MatrixNL":null,"Parameter":"Abundance","ParameterNL":"Abundantie","Description":null,"Unit":null,"Methodology":null,"Protocol":null,"QualityControl":null,"Precision":null,"Detectionlimit":null,"Instrument":null,"InstrumentUrl":null,"MethFull":"","ParaCategoryTitle":null,"ParaCatCode":null},{"MethID":null,"DasMeasTypID":20543,"DasMeasType":"","Matrix":null,"MatrixNL":null,"Parameter":"Distribution","ParameterNL":"Verspreiding","Description":null,"Unit":null,"Methodology":null,"Protocol":null,"QualityControl":null,"Precision":null,"Detectionlimit":null,"Instrument":null,"InstrumentUrl":null,"MethFull":"","ParaCategoryTitle":null,"ParaCatCode":null}],"dasthemes":[{"DasThemeID":70,"DasTheme":"Biology > Mammals","DasTheme0":"Mammals","DutchTerm":"Zoogdieren"}],"projects":null,"refs":null,"urls":[{"URL":"https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/geoviewer/?layers=15189:1:1&basemap=ebwbl&active=15189&bounds=-7255017.962716613,3082466.814999999,10209059.118716612,11459766.29&filters=&projection=EPSG:3857","externalID":null,"URLTypeCode":null,"URLType":"Online dataset","URLTypID":19,"downloadURL":null,"FileName":null},{"URL":"https://geonode.goosocean.org/layers/geonode_data:geonode:Important_Marine_Mammal_Areas_IMMA","externalID":null,"URLTypeCode":null,"URLType":"Dataset information","URLTypID":17,"downloadURL":null,"FileName":null},{"URL":"https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/download/handbook-on-the-use-of-selection-criteria-for-the-identification-of-important-marine-mammal-areas-immas/","externalID":null,"URLTypeCode":null,"URLType":"Dataset information","URLTypID":17,"downloadURL":null,"FileName":null},{"URL":"https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/download/the-important-marine-mammal-area-network-a-tool-for-systematic-spatial-planning-in-response-to-the-marine-mammal-habitat-conservation-crisis/","externalID":null,"URLTypeCode":null,"URLType":"Additional info","URLTypID":37,"downloadURL":null,"FileName":null},{"URL":"www.marinemammalhabitat.org","externalID":null,"URLTypeCode":null,"URLType":"Dataset dedicated website","URLTypID":36,"downloadURL":null,"FileName":null}],"pictures":[],"urlmaps":null,"spatreps":null,"fileformats":null,"resmessage":"","complete":1}