The Marine Reporting Units (MRUs) are used within the reporting obligations of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in order to link the implementation of the different articles to specific marine areas. The MRUs can be of varying sizes, according to the appropriate scale for the different reports (e.g. region, sub-region, regional or sub-regional subdivision, Member State marine waters, WFD coastal waters, etc.), as indicated in the Good Environmental Status 2017 Decision. The present data set is the first public version released of the MRUs used during the first cycle of implementation of the MSFD (2012-2018) in all the reporting exercises (2012 reporting of Articles 8, 9 and 10; 2014 reporting of Article 11; and 2016 reporting of Articles 13 & 14). The data set is distributed in SHP and in INSPIRE-compliant GML format.

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 presents the potential combined effects of sea-based pressures on marine species and habitats estimated using the method for assessment of cumulative effects, for the entire suite of pressures and a selected set of marine species groups and habitats by an index (Halpern et al. 2008). The spatial assessment of combined effects of multiple pressures informs of the risks of human activities on the marine ecosystem health. The methodology builds on the spatial layers of pressures and ecosystem components and on an estimate of ecosystem sensitivity through an expert questionnaire. The raster dataset consists of a division of the Europe's seas in 10km and 100 km grid cells, which values represents the combined effects index values for pressures caused by sea-based human activities. The relative values indicate areas where the pressures potentially affect the marine ecosystem. This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Marine Messages" (EEA, 2020).

The dataset presents the potential combined effects of land-based pressures on marine species and habitats estimated using the method for assessment of cumulative effects, for the entire suite of pressures and a selected set of marine species groups and habitats by an index (Halpern et al. 2008). The spatial assessment of combined effects of multiple pressures informs of the risks of human activities on the marine ecosystem health. The methodology builds on the spatial layers of pressures and ecosystem components and on an estimate of ecosystem sensitivity through an expert questionnaire. The raster dataset consists of a division of the Europe's seas in 10km and 100 km grid cells, which values represents the combined effects index values for pressures caused by land-based human activities. The relative values indicate areas where the pressures potentially affect the marine ecosystem. This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Marine Messages" (EEA, 2020).

This metadata refers to the EEA marine assessment grid, to which all data and assessment results have been spatially mapped in order to ensure that data can be compared in a uniform way across the European regional seas. The marine assessment grid is based on the EEA reference grid system. The EEA reference grid is based on ERTS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection with parameters: latitude of origin 52° N, longitude of origin 10° E, false northing 3 210 000.0 m, false easting 4 321 000.0 m. All grid cells are named with a unique identifier containing information on grid cell size and the distance from origin in meters (easting and northing). An important attribute of the EEA reference grid system is that by using an equal area projection all grid cells are having the same area for the same grid size. In this marine assessment grid, two grid sizes are used: * 100 x 100 km in offshore areas (> 20 km from the coastline) * 20 x 20 km in coastal areas (<= 20 km from the coastline) The grid sizes were choosen after an evaluation of data availability versus the need for sufficient detail in the resulting assessment. The resulting assessment grid is a combination of two grid sizes using the EEA reference grid system. The overall area of interest used in the grid is based on the marine regions and subregions under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Additionally, Norwegian (Barent Sea and Norwegian Sea) and Icelandic waters (’Iceland Sea’) have been added (see Surrounding seas of Europe). Note that, within the North East Atlantic region, only the subregions within EEZ boundaries (~200 nm) have been included.

This raster dataset represents the probability of occurrence of whales in the Europe Seas, where the species included are: Blue whale, Sei whale, Humpback whale, Sperm whale, Fin whale and Northern right whale. The northern right whale model only describes the range of the western population of this species, since the eastern population is probably almost extinct. Thus, the northern right whale model only partly overlaps with the EEA area on interest. This dataset is based on AquaMaps distribution maps (version 10/2019). The dataset has been prepared in the context of the development of the first European Maritime Transport Environmental Report (EMSA-EEA report, 2021: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/maritime-transport).

The Marine Reporting Units (MRUs) are used within the reporting obligations of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in order to link the implementation of the different articles to specific marine areas. The MRUs can be of varying sizes, according to the appropriate scale for the different reports (e.g. region, sub-region, regional or sub-regional subdivision, Member State marine waters, WFD coastal waters, etc.), as indicated in the Good Environmental Status 2017 Decision. The present data set is the second public version released of the MRUs used during the MSFD 2018 reporting exercise on the update of Articles 8, 9 and 10. Only the MRUs of those countries that have gone through the reporting exercise by June 2020 have been included in this data set. Apart from the countries included already in version 1 of the dataset (SE, FI, EE, LV, PL, DE, DK, NL, BE, FR, ES, HR and RO), this version also includes seven more countries, namely MT, LT, IT, SI, CY, PT and IE. The data set is distributed in SHP and in INSPIRE-compliant GML format, made available also through an INSPIRE compliant ATOM service.

This vector dataset represents the benthic broad habitat types in Europe Seas potentially affected by the ship wakes. When navigating, the propellers of ships generate a turbulent mixing of the water that can produce sediment re-suspension in soft bottoms of shallow areas. This can increase the turbidity in those areas, affecting the seafloor organisms (especially those that are directly dependent on light, such as aquatic plants). It may also contribute to an increase of the the eutrophication level of the ecosystem (since the turbid waters may become warmer, which may turn into a reduction of dissolved oxygen in water). Finally, turbidity can produce an increase in the inputs of contaminants and microbial pathogens, since those can become attached to the suspended solids. The dataset has been prepared in the context of the development of the first European Maritime Transport Environmental Report (https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/maritime-transport).

The dataset presents the results of classification of eutrophication status of the European seas using the HEAT+ tool. Eutrophication status is evaluated in five classes, where NPAhigh and NPAgood are recognised as ‘non-problem areas’ and PAmoderate, PApoor and PAbad are recognised as ‘problem areas’. Besides the overall Eutrophication status (HEAT+) are the results shown for three aspects of eutrophication: C1) Nutrient Concentrations C2) Direct Effects C3) Indirect Effects This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Nutrient enrichment and eutrophication in Europe's seas" (EEA, 2019): https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/nutrient-enrichment-and-eutrophication-in.

The dataset presents the potential combined effects of human activities and pressures on marine species and habitats estimated using the method for assessment of cumulative effects, for the entire suite of pressures and a selected set of marine species groups and habitats by an index (Halpern et al. 2008). The spatial assessment of combined effects of multiple pressures informs of the risks of human activities on the marine ecosystem health. The methodology builds on the spatial layers of pressures and ecosystem components and on an estimate of ecosystem sensitivity through an expert questionnaire. The raster dataset consists of a division of the Europe's seas in 10km and 100 km grid cells, which values represents the combined effects index values for pressures caused by human activities. The relative values indicate areas where the pressures potentially affect the marine ecosystem. This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Marine Messages" (EEA, 2020).