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 Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 11. five dredged material disposal sites (Dredged material disposal site S1, Art. 11 § 1.1°; Dredged material disposal site S2, Art. 11 § 1.2°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Oostende, Art. 11 § 1.3°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Zeebrugge Oost, Art. 11 § 1.4°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Nieuwpoort, Art. 11 § 1.5°). Futhermore, additional zones are defined for the future replacement of dredging areas as defined in Art. 11 §3, §5, §7 and §9. 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. 9. five dredged material disposal sites (Dredged material disposal site S1, Art. 9 § 6.1°; Dredged material disposal site S2, Art. 9 § 6.2°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Oostende, Art. 9 § 6.3°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Zeebrugge Oost, Art. 9 § 6.4°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Nieuwpoort, Art. 9 § 6.5°). 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 is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 3. Occurrence of breeding seabirds describes the observation of eight seabird species (Common tern, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Small Black-backed Gull, Yellow-legged gull, Big Stern and Little Stern) on the Belgian coast between 1992 and 2015.

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.

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.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 8 scientific research, recreation, radars and masts zones: Scientific research (Art. 19§1), Area for test projects (Art. 19§2), Calibration of acoustic measuring devices (Art. 19§3), Industrial research and demonstration projects (Art. 19§4), Reference zone for monitoring impact of windmills and sand exploitation (Art. 19§5), Recreative activities (Art. 20§1), Recreative fisheries (Art. 20§2), Beaconing and installation of measuring poles, radars and masts (Art. 21§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. 15, four zones designated for scientific research, recreative activities, radars and masts: one for scientific research (Art. 15. § 1, the whole Belgian Part of the North Sea), one for recreative activities (Art. 15. § 2, the whole Belgian Part of the North Sea) and one for radars and masts (Art. 15. § 4, the whole Belgian Part of the North Sea) and one for industrial research, experimentations in realistic conditions and demonstration projects (Art. 15. § 5, the whole Belgian Part of the North Sea). 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.

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.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 8, criterion 3. This dataset gives an overview of the observed slicks during aerial survey operations of the Belgian part of the North Sea (2011-2016). Related to significant acute pollution, it includes the observations linked to the Flinterstar incident in 2015. Besides this, all observations of illegal discharges of MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) annex I and II substances are included as an additional dataset.

This dataset represents main data about the cores of Belgian boreholes that are stored by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Data is distributed as shapefile with multiple meta-infomations such as unique borehole reference, depth, location, lithology and a link to access the core and lithological descriptions.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 6 energy, cable and pipeline zones: Area 1 for renewable energy (Eastern zone) (Art. 8§1), Area 2 for renewable energy (Noordhinder North) (Art. 8§2), Area 3 for renewable energy (Noordhinder Zuid) (Art. 8§3), Area for renewable energy - zone 4 (Fairybank) (Art. 8§3), Modular offshore grid for transmission of energy (Art. 8§5), Pipelines and cables corridor (Art. 9§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. 8., five energy, cables and pipelines zones: one zone for domain concessions to construct and exploit installations for the production of electricity from water, currents or wind (Area for renewable energy (initially wind farms), Art. 8. § 1), one zone for domain concessions to construct and exploit installations for the transport of electricity (Plug at sea, Art. 8. § 3), two zones for installations for energy storage (Energy atoll 1, Art. 8. § 5 zone 1 and Energy atoll 2, Art. 8. § 5 zone 2) and one zone to construct and exploit pipelines and cables (Pipelines and cables corridor, Art. 8. § 7). 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.