This vector data set is the first public version released of the EU marine waters used for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), submitted by the Member States to the European Commission. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) applies to all marine waters of EU Member States, which in Article 3 are defined as follows: (a) waters, the seabed and subsoil on the seaward side of the baseline from which the extent of territorial waters is measured extending to the outmost reach of the area where a Member State has and/or exercises jurisdictional rights, in accordance with the UNCLOS, with the exception of waters adjacent to the countries and territories mentioned in Annex II to the Treaty and the French Overseas Departments and Collectivities; and (b) coastal waters as defined by Directive 2000/60/EC, their seabed and their subsoil, in so far as particular aspects of the environmental status of the marine environment are not already addressed through that Directive or other Community legislation.

The dataset on subsea telecommunication cables in the European waters was created in 2014 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It is the result of the aggregation of datasets provided by several EU and non-EU sources. It is updated every year, and is available for viewing and download on the EMODnet web portal (Human Activities, https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/human-activities). The dataset contain lines representing actual cable routes locations. Compared with the previous version, this version includes an update of the German cables.

The dataset on offshore pipelines in the European seas was created in 2017 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It is the result of the aggregation and harmonization of datasets provided by several several EU and non-EU sources. It is updated every year, and is available for viewing and download on the EMODnet web portal (Human Activities, https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/human-activities). The dataset contains lines representing the actual routes of offshore pipelines (where available) in the following countries: Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain (Andalucía), Sweden and United Kingdom. Each line has the following harmonized attributes (where available): code, name, status (abandoned, active, application submitted, not in use, planned, pre-commissioning, proposed, under construction), medium (air, chemical glycol, chemical methanol, chemical n/a, condensate, control, cooling water, gas, geothermal heating, hydraulic, mixed hydrocarbons, oil, other fluid, sewage, water), operator, size (inches), length (metres), year, from and to locality or facility, country code, country name and notes. Compared with the previous version, this new version includes updated data from German BSH-CONTIS source.

DTM of continental margin of Cantabric Sea, resolution 100 meters. This DTM includes the whole area from coast line to deepest level (5544,23 m).

This metadata refers to a dataset that shows the percentage of cities' administrative area (core city based on the Urban Morphological Zones dataset) inundated by the sea level rise of 2 metres, without any coastal flooding defences present for a series of individual coastal European cities (included in Urban Audit). The dataset has been computed using the CReSIS (Centre for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets) dataset for 2018.

This dataset stems from the Joint Research Centre (JRC) Biomass Mandate (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/projects-activities/jrc-biomass-mandate_en) and it is available for viewing and download on EMODnet - Human Activities web portal (www.emodnet-humanactivities.eu) and on the platform from the European Commission’s Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/visualisation/bioeconomy-different-countries_en#algae_prod_plants). Its aim is to build a reliable database to characterize the algae sector and to support informed European policies on Blue Growth and Bioeconomy. More detailed information on the Status of the Algae Production Industry in Europe can be found in a JRC-led study published in Frontiers in Marine Science (https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC122250). Information on the location (geographic coordinates) of the production facilities, group of produced organism (macroalgae, microalgae and spirulina), production method (Fermenters, Harvesting , Photobioreactors, Open ponds, Semi Open ponds, land-based or at sea Aquaculture, Integrated multi-trophic or not) and species (see dataset) have been collected in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. In November 2021, the JRC has updated the database with the latest information on the production units operational at the time.

The dataset on offshore active licences for Oil and Gas exploitation and exploration in the EU was created in 2014 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It is the result of the aggregation and harmonization of datasets provided by several EU and non-EU sources. It is updated every year, and is available for viewing and download on EMODnet - Human Activities web portal (www.emodnet-humanactivities.eu). It contains polygons representing active offshore licenced areas in the following countries: Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom. Where available each polygon has the following attributes: country, code, name, type (exploitation, exploration, exploitation and exploration, other, N/A), licensing round (it includes also pending applications in France and Spain), area (square km), area info (it indicates if the area value is original from the source or has been calculated), starting year, ending year, operator or administrator. Compared with the previous release, 'Exploitation, exploration' new type of licence has been added. Italy's exploration licences are all temporarily suspended.

Complete Coastline Features for all the countries that produced Corine Land Cover 2000 and have a coastline, with detailed descriptions on the environment and type of coastal areas. Each coast segment has inherited CLC 2000 class, and also the attributes from Eurosion Coastline version 2.1 2004, regarding geomorphology, type of coast and erosion trends.

The database on shellfish aquaculture in the EU was created in 2014 by AND-International for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It is the result of the aggregation and harmonization of datasets provided by national sources across the EU (plus Norway) and by the project Euroshell. Data are available for viewing and download on EMODnet - Human Activities web portal (www.emodnet-humanactivities.eu). The database contains points representing shellfish farms or shellfish production areas (depending on available data) in the following countries: Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom. Spanish data is provided separately through WMS services. Data is missing for Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Croatia and Slovenia. Except for Germany, the shellfish production remains limited in those MS. There is no production in other MS. Each point has the following attributes (where available): status (active, inactive), country, owner name, farm type (Mussels, Oysters, Mussels-Oysters, Clams, Specialised (other), Mixed (other)), production method (Long lines, Trestles or trays, Tanks, Rafts, Beds, Raceways), production stage (Grow out for human consumption, Hatchery, Nursery, Broodstock, Reproduction, Harvest, Other), purpose (Commercial, Research, Education, Display, Other), species detailed (English translation of the information provided on species grown or authorised in the source), point information (Polygon centroid, Original) depending on how the information is provided in the source (polygons or points), site_id, distance to coast (metres), position from coastline (At sea, within the coastline). The farm type relies on a typology established by AND-International, based on available information on species grown or authorised. A relational table provides harmonised information about species grown or authorised using Eurostat nomenclature for the Species Group (Mussels; Oysters; Clams, cockles, arkshells; Scallops, pectens; Abalones, winkles, conchs; Sea-urchins and other echinoderms) and when available the species name (e.g. Blue mussels - Mytilus edulis). The distance to coast (EEA coastline shapefile) has been calculated using the original data map projections, where available. In the other cases it was used the UTM WGS84 Zone projected coordinate system where data fall in. Compared with the previous version this new version has been not only updated but was also reviewed (dataset schema and attributes values), in order to add information on production methods, production stages and purposes and to provide a more useful typology based on species grown. Data from Norway and Bulgaria have been added. Data from France relies on cadastral data rather than large production areas in the previous database.

The EEA coastline dataset is created for detailed analysis with a Minimum Mapping Unit of e.g. 1:100000, for geographical Europe. The coastline is a hybrid product obtained from satellite imagery from two projects: 1) EUHYDRO (Pan-European hydrographic and drainage database) [https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/satellite-derived-products/eu-hydro/view] and 2) GSHHG (A Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Geography Database) [http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pwessel/gshhg/]. The defining criteria was altitude level = 0 from EUDEM [https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/satellite-derived-products/eu-dem/view]. Outside the coverage of the EUDEM, the coastline from GSHHG was used without modifications. A few manual amendments to the dataset were necessary to meet requirements from EU Nature Directives, Water Framework Directive and Marine Strategy Framework Directive. In 2015, several corrections were made in the Kalogeroi Islands (coordinates 38.169, 25.287) and two other Greek little islets (coordinates 36.766264, 23.604318), as well as in the peninsula of Porkkala (around coordinates 59.99, 24.42). In this revision (v3, 2017), 2 big lagoons have been removed from Baltic region, because, according to HELCOM, are freshwater lagoons. This dataset is a polygon usable as a water-land mask.