This dataset represents the location of the Princess Elizabeth zone in the Belgian Part of the North Sea as described in the Royal Decree of May 22th, 2019, establishing a marine spatial plan for the period 2020-2026. Art. 8. § 3.

The dataset describes the physical habitats in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. It uses the EUNIS classification system as well as the MSFD Habitat codelist for the description and classification of the BPNS. It provides also information on the energy, biozone and type of substrate for the different areas in the BPNS.

This datasets is a summary of the CTD profiles measured with the RV Belgica. It provides general meta-information such as the campaign code, the date of measurement and the geographical information. An important information is the profile quality flag that describes the validity of the data. A quality flag = 2 means the data is generally good although some outliers can still be present. A quality flag = 4 means the data should not be trusted. 1 meter binned data can be download on the SeaDataNet CDI portal (enter the cruise_id in the search bar) ONLY for the good quality profiles. Full acquisition frequency datasets are available on request to BMDC.

This dataset represents the exact location of active telecommunication cables (verified in 2010) installed in the Belgian Part of the North Sea.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 1 coastal protection experiments zone: Zone for coastal protection experiments (Art. 16§2). It replaces the 2014 Marine Spatial Plan, which is included for completeness. The Royal Decree of 20 March 2014 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 12. §1 one zone for coastal protection experiments. This zone is made available digitally in the resource described by this metadata document. Please refer to the Belgian official gazette (\"Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad\") for official reference information.

The dataset contains the borders of the Belgian marine waters in the North Sea and the different geographical areas (‘reporting units’) used when reporting in the frame of the the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD) and the Water Framework directive 2000/60/EC (WFD). The ecological status in the frame of WFD is reported for the coastal waters, defined as the one-nautical mile area, while the chemical status needs to be reported for the territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles). MSFD requires information for the whole area, encompassing the territorial waters and the Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone. For some descriptors, results have been reported separately for the WFD subdivisions during the update of the initial assessment in 2018.

This dataset represents the exact location of gas pipelines installed in the Belgian Part of the North Sea.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 1. Stranded porpoises often show traces of incidental catch in fishing nets (bycatch), a major cause of death for this cetacean in the North Sea. Based on the number of stranded animals showing traces of bycatch, it can be estimated that up to a few dozen porpoises are caught per year. For extrapolation of bycatch data to effects at population level, reference is made to (future) initiatives at regional level.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 7 cultural heritage (wrecks) zones: 'HMS Briljant' wreck (Art. 22), 'SS Kilmore' wreck (Art. 22), '’t Vliegend Hart' wreck (Art. 22), 'U-11' wreck (Art. 22), 'West Hinder' wreck (Art. 22), Wooden wreck 'Oostende' (Art. 22), Wreck site 'Buiten Ratel' (Art. 22). Please refer to the Belgian official gazette (\"Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad\") for official reference information.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 6, criterion 2. This dataset describes and maps the physical disturbance to the seabed in the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) between 2011 and 2016. The dataset combines different layers of human activities leading to a disturbance of the seabed, including power cables with its rock dump, dredging and dumping, extraction, war ammunition stocking and wind farms. The area disturbed is mapped and quantified per year, per activity and per benthic broad habitat.