The impact of fishing on benthic habitats has previously been investigated however; a conclusive classification of potentially sensitive habitats per gear type does not exist. Currently only qualitative estimates of fishery impact using Broad-scale habitat maps are possible. Here a sensitivity matrix using both fishing pressure (fishing Intensity) and habitat sensitivity is employed to define habitat disturbance categories. The predominant fishing activities associated with physical abrasion of the seafloor area are from bottom contacting towed fishing gear. The swept area of the aforementioned gear in contact with the seabed is generally considered a function of gear width, vessel speed and fishing effort (ICES. 2015). The varying characteristics of fishing gear, their interaction with the sea floor and species being targeted; provide scope for differing interactions with subsurface (infaunal) and surface (epifaunal) dwelling communities. An evaluation of the abrasion pressure and habitat sensitivity split into surface and subsurface pressure allows greater insight to the ecological effects. Fishing intensity was calculated annually and based on the area of sea floor being swept (or swept area ratio SAR) by gear type. Calculations are based on SAR’s of gear types per area, per year. Fishing pressure ranks and habitat sensitivity ranks obtained from WGSFD working group (01 WGSFD - Report of the Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data 2015) can be incorporated within a GIS environment to existing ICES fisheries data to provide habitat disturbance maps (fishing pressure maps+ habitat sensitivity maps) ICES. 2015. Report of the Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD), 8–12 June 2015, ICES Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark. ICES CM 2015/SSGEPI:18. 150 pp.

The challenge attempts to collect discards data for the North Atlantic sea basin (i.e. north of the equator, excluding Caribe, Baltic, North Sea and Artic) and to compute: mass and number of discards by species and year, including fish, mammals, reptiles and seabirds. Data are presented in an Excel's spreadsheet.

North Atlantic basin average at Pentadal (5-year) resolution time-series of the ocean heat storage (upper 700m) and kinetic energy. Use gridded information to calculate the local heat storage and average kinetic energy as a 5 year average and then calculate the basin average.

Maps of seasonal p90 (percentile 90) of Chla on the North Atlantic basin for the past ten years (2005-2014) using the Global Copernicus chla level 4 (L4) products (resolution of 4 km). Method as Gohin Francis, Saulquin Bertrand, Bryere Philippe (2010) Atlas de la Température, de la concentration en Chlorophylle et de la Turbidité de surface du plateau continental français et de ses abords de l’Ouest européen. Ifremer. http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00057/16840/

Data from a number of different sources have been integrated to provide new perspectives on fishing activities. Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) record and transmit the position and speed of fishing vessels at intervals of two hours or less. Fishing time can be calculated from the VMS data and combining this parameter with vessel logbook data, maps of fishing effort and intensity at different spatial and temporal scales can be calculated. The statistical software package “R” is used to extract the required information then re-interrogated to produce maps of fishing effort or intensity per month and year. The use of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data was not considered as combining AIS data with fisheries logbook data would pose issues namely; the ability of the AIS system to be switched off, only mandatory on vessels > 15 meters in length, cost involved to purchase data, and confidentiality.

Temporal series (annual mean values) and Long Term Average (LTA) of sediment load for each river mouth where in situ data is available. Different sources can be mixed if any.

We took inspiration from a “Matrix of marine activities” (appropriate for each IUCN management category) extracted from IUCN paper, to achieve the first objective by computing 1 product comprising the following 12 components: Product ATLANTIC_CH02_Product_1 / MPA Atlantic network classified in IUCN classification • Traditional fishing area • Sustainable fishing area (industrial) • Leisure fishing area • Leisure activity area (diving, surfing, tourist beaches) • Shipping area (shipping trajectory, aids navigation) • Scientific activity area • Renewable energy generation facility area (ocean energy facilities, wind farms) • Aquaculture area (finfish production, shellfish production) • Shipping infrastructure area (harbours, dredging area...) • Waste discharge area • Mining area (aggregate extraction, hydrocarbon extraction) • Habitation area (urban area) Each geographic information required for the components was compiled into a layer in grid format. These grids were intersected with the MPAs layer to assign each MPA a IUCN category according to the conditional matrix illustrated below : If the MPA area contains : Habitation area (urban area) The IUCN category is :V If the MPA area contains : Mining area (aggregate extraction, hydrocarbon extraction) The IUCN category is V If the MPA area contains : Waste discharge area The IUCN category is : V If the MPA area contains : Shipping infrastructure area (harbours, dredging area...) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Aquaculture area (finfish production, shellfish production) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Renewable energy generation facility area (ocean energy facilities, wind farms) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Leisure fishing area The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Sustainable fishing area (industrial) The IUCN category is IV If the MPA area contains : Shipping area (shipping trajectory, aids navigation) The IUCN category is II If the MPA area contains : Leisure activity area (diving, surfing, tourist beaches) The IUCN category is Ib If the MPA area contains : Traditional fishing area The IUCN category is Ib If the MPA area contains : Scientific activity area The IUCN category is Ia

Temporal series (annual mean values) and Long term Average (LTA) of water discharge for each river mouth where in situ data is available. Different sources can be mixed if any.

This data product selects sample areas of digital bathymetry, chosen for their relevance to marine activities and data sources alternative to GEBCO. The approach for building the digital map of water depth is to use GEBCO as a baseline and look at a set of sample areas where GEBCO could be improved upon. Sample areas have also been selected to be representative of each continent bordering the Atlantic and expected future requirements. Data sources include GEBCO, EMODNET, USGS and CHS.

The three digital maps provided in this product aim to assess the degree of Offshore windfarm siting suitability existing over a geographical area with a focal point where waters of France and Spain meet in Biscay Bay on 500 m depth. The maps display respectively the spatial distribution of the average and lowest windfarm siting suitability scores along with the average wind speed distribution over a time period of 10 years. They are part of a process set up to assess the fit for use quality of the currently available datasets to support a preliminary selection of potential offshore sites for wind energy development. To build these maps, GIS tools were applied to several key spatial datasets from the 5 data type domains considered in the project: Air, Marine Water, Riverbed/Seabed, Biota/Biology and Human Activities, collated during the initial stages of the project. Initially, each selected dataset was formatted and clipped to the study area extent and spatially classified according to suitability scores, to define raster layers with the variables depicting levels of current anthropogenic and environmental spatial occupation of activities, seabed depth and slope, distances to shoreline, shipping intensity, mean significant wave height, and substrate type. These pre-processed layers were employed as inputs for applying a spatial multi-criteria model using a wind farming suitability classification based on a discrete 5 grades index, ranging from Very Low up to Very High suitability. In adition to suitability maps, an average wind speed spatial distribution map for a 10 years period, at 10 m height, was obtained over the study area from the raster processing of a wind speed time series of monthly means available from daily wind analysis data. The characteristics of the datasets used in this exercise underwent an appropriateness evaluation procedure based on a comparison between their measured quality and those specified for the product. All the spatial information made available in these maps and from the subsequent appropriateness analysis of the datasets, contributes to a clearer overview of the amount of public-access baseline knowledge currently existing for the North Atlantic basin area.