HELCOM Subbasins with coastal WFD water types or water bodies (level 4)

This dataset includes assessment units in scale 4, HELCOM Subbasins with coastal WFD water types or water bodies (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and off-shore areas and division of the coastal areas by WFD water types or water bodies) as defined in the HELCOM Monitoring and assessment strategy (https://helcom.fi/publications/monitoring-and-assessment-strategy/) The marine area of the Baltic Sea is sub-divided for regional monitoring and assessment purposes. The scale of sub-division to be chosen may differ depending on purpose, e.g. monitoring and assessment of mobile marine mammals may require the whole Baltic Sea scale while assessment of eutrophication may require the scale of open sea combined with water body or -type in the coastal waters. The scale to be used should be chosen among the four HELCOM scales and jointly agreed. Other sub-divisions, for example aggregations of units, can be agreed and used provided they use the agreed boundaries and remain within the boundaries and use the nomenclature of the described hierarchical system.