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.

This dataset represents the exact location of disused telecommunication cables installed in the Belgian Part of the North Sea.

UNDER EMBARGO - This dataset contains seasonal physiological measurements from controlled laboratory experiments on two dominant suspension-feeding species expected to colonise floating offshore structures: the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis; AphiaID 140480) and the wrinkled barnacle (Balanus crenatus; AphiaID 106215). The measured parameters include clearance rates, respiration rates, faecal pellet production rates, and faecal pellet sinking velocities. Mussels were collected from an aquaculture longline at the Westdiep SeaFarm, while barnacles were manually retrieved from the intertidal beachhead at Raversijde (Oostende, Belgium). All experiments were conducted using natural seawater collected from offshore sites in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Measurements were repeated across multiple seasons to capture temporal variability in physiological performance. The dataset was produced within the SWiM and EcoMPV projects and is suitable for reuse in ecosystem and biogeochemical modelling, including simulations of phytoplankton dynamics associated with large-scale offshore marine photovoltaic (MPV) developments.

This dataset represents the exact location of electrical cables installed in the Belgian Part of the North Sea, including these for for the wind farms.

The Royal Decree of 20 March 2026 establishing a marine spatial plan defines Seabed Integrity Zone_Top Art. 10. § 1.1°, Seabed Integrity Zone_Middle Art. 10. § 1.2°, Seabed Integrity Zone_Bottom Art. 10. § 1.3°, RAMSAR Art. 11, Zone with Ban on Bottom-Disturbing Recreational Fishing Art. 24. § 2, Flemish Banks Art. 8. § 1, Raan Flat Art. 8. § 3, SBZ1 Art. 8. § 5.1°, SBZ2 Art. 8. § 5.2°, SBZ3 Art. 8. § 5.3°, Marine Reserve_Top Art. 9. § 1.1°, Marine Reserve_Middle 2a Art. 9. § 1.2°, Marine Reserve_Middle 2b Art. 9. § 2, Marine Reserve_Bottom Art. 9. § 3 Please refer to the Belgian official gazette ("Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad") for official reference information.

The Royal Decree of 20 March 2026 establishing a marine spatial plan defines Dredging_S1 Art. 15. § 1.1°, Dredging_S2 Art. 15. § 1.2°, Dredging_Bridges and Roads Ostend Art. 15. § 1.3°, Dredging_Bridges and Roads Zeebrugge East Art. 15. § 1.4°, Dredging_Bridges and Roads Zeebrugge West Art. 15. § 1.5°, Dredging_Bridges and Roads Nieuwpoort Art. 15. § 1.6°, Dredging_Erosion Pit Zeebrugge Art. 15. § 1.7°, Dredging_Future Replacement S1 Art. 15. § 4.1°, Dredging_Second Future Replacement S1 Art. 15. § 4.2°, Dredging_Second Possible Replacement Zeebrugge East and Zeebrugge West Art. 15. § 6, Dredging_Possible Replacement Zeebrugge East and Zeebrugge West Art. 15. § 6, Dredging_Third Possible Replacement Zeebrugge East and Zeebrugge West Art. 15. § 6, Dredging_Future Replacement Bridges and Roads Nieuwpoort Art. 15. § 8 Please refer to the Belgian official gazette ("Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad") for official reference information.

The Royal Decree of 20 March 2026 establishing a marine spatial plan defines CIA Zone Art. 27. § 1 Please refer to the Belgian official gazette ("Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad") for official reference information.

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.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 11 military use and storage sites for war munition zones: Exercise area for sweeping mines (Buiten Ratel) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - NB-01 (Westhinder) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - NBH-10 (Wenduine) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - QZR 040 (Art. 17§1), Munition destruction area (Art. 17§2), Area for shooting exercises on floating objects (Art. 17§3), Area for exercises in shallow waters (Art. 17§4), Area for shooting exercises from land - big sector (Art. 17§5), Area for shooting exercises from land - medium sector (Art. 17§5), Area for shooting exercises from land - small sector (Art. 17§5), Storage site for war munition Paardenmarkt (Art. 18§1). 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. 13. and Art. 14., resp. nine zones for military use and one storage site for war munition: three zones for shooting exercises from land direction sea (Art 13. § 1 small sector, Art 13. § 1 medium sector, Art 13. § 1 large sector), four exercise areas for sweeping mines (Art 13. § 3, Exercise area 1 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 5, Exercise area 2 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 9, Exercise area 3 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 13, Exercise area 4 for sweeping mines), one area for shooting exercises on floating objects (Art 13. § 7), one area for defusing mines (Art 13. § 11) and one zone to safeguard the closed storage site for war munition \"Paardenmarkt\" (Art. 14. § 1). These zones are 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.

This dataset describes the location of the samples gathered for the Scientific research program DGL-JW (2021-15) managed bu the FPS Environment. Sampling started in 2004 and lasted until 2021.