As part of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s participation in the review of oil spill contingency plans, the Habitat and Restoration Division (H&R) identified 68 of the most environmentally sensitive areas (MESAs) along the Alaska coastline that could be impacted by a marine spill. This information was originally developed at the request of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to assist non-crude oil barge operators in determining whether additional protection strategies were to be included in their oil discharge prevention and contingency plans. These MESAs should not be considered a complete list of highly sensitive areas in Alaska. ADF&G is the source for data in MESA Atlas Volume I. MESA Atlas Volume II depicts data from four sources: ADF&G, NOAA, Dames and Moore Group (URS Corp.), and EMCON Alaska Inc.(SLR International Corp.). The downloadable data on this page contains data from ADF&G and the Dames and Moore Group.
Shapefiles for species can be downloaded individually or as a group. Species include bear, beluga whale, birds, blue mussel,common eider, deer, dungeness crab, eulachon, fur seal , groundfish, harbor seal, hardshell/soft shell clam, herring, kelp, polar bear, razor clam, seabirds, seal, shorebirds, shrimp, steller sea lion, sea otter, spotted seal, tanner crab, walrus, waterfowl.
Mesa areas within the North Slope region include Cape Lisburne/Cape Lewis, Cape Thompson, Colville River Delta, Howe/Duck Islands/Sagavanirktok Delta, Kasegaluk Lagoon, Peard Bay/Franklin Spit, Stefansson Sound Boulder Patch.
Maps of the study areas and pdfs of the study volumes can also be downloaded at the ADFG website.
