The PLAN BOTHNIA project, co-ordinated by the HELCOM Secretariat, tested transboundary Maritime Spatial Planning in the Baltic Sea. The project used the Bothnian Sea area between Sweden and Finland as a case study of Baltic transboundary MSP. The project was a Baltic Sea MSP “preparatory action” funded by EU Commission DG MARE (budget 0,5 M EUR ) under the EU Integrated Maritime Policy, and run 18 months between 2. December 2010 and 1. June 2012. The final report can be downloaded here: https://planbothnia.org/the-pilot-plan/ The data covers the following topics: Maritime traffic Fishing and aquaculture Energy Nature protected areas Defence Scientific research Sand and gravel Tourism and recreation Cultural heritage All spatial data gathered during the project can be downloaded and used freely given that the source is cited. The data was gathered during the time span of the project (December 2010 and 1. June 2012) and it covers: Maritime traffic Fishing and aquaculture Energy Nature protected areas Defence Scientific research Sand and gravel Tourism and recreation Cultural heritage The source of the data were HELCOM and the different regional councils surrounding the Bothnian Sea.

This dataset contains core indicator results developed under the HELCOM Third Holistic Assessment of the Ecosystem Health of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS 3).

Observations of Nucula nucleus were collected from the Baltic Sea area for HELCOM Red List species list. The HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea species in danger of becoming extinct (2013) is the first threat assessment for Baltic Sea species that covers all marine mammals, fish, birds, macrophytes (aquatic plants), and benthic invertebrates, and follows the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Almost 2800 species were considered in the Red List assessment and about 1750 were evaluated according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Nucula nucleus has been placed to the Red List category of Vulnerable (VU) species. Dataset for download contains spatial grid of the Baltic Sea. Distribution of the species can be found in corresponding name column. Values are coded: 1 - Present before year 2000 or in 2000, 2 - Present after year 2000, 3 - Present both before and after year 2000.

Location of water course modifications (trenching, culverting, canalisation). The data was made available by HELCOM Contracting Parties in response to data request. The data was received from Estonia, Finland and Poland. Data reported by Finland and Poland as water course modification were interpreted as pipelines and were included in HELCOM HOLAS 2 Pipelines dataset. The activity was declared as not relevant in Germany and Lithuania. From Latvia, Russia and Sweden no data was reported.

This dataset contains all TBT in biota monitoring station locations, observed matrix, biota matrix and monitored species as reported to HELCOM secretariat by HELCOM Contracting Parties by 2016.

The dataset contains sand and gravel extraction activity during 2011–2015. The dataset is based on data submission by HELCOM Contacting Parties in response to data request. The dataset is quality assured and contains data from all the Baltic Sea countries. Common extraction sites with information on volume of extraction was included in the dataset. The other extraction sites (building sites, exclusive sites) had only summed data for all the sites, as volumes of extraction in specific sites was classified as confidential information. For these sites the volumes was calculated from reported sum of "other extraction areas". The amount was equally divided between corresponding extraction areas. For some common extraction sites a shared amount was reported.

This dataset represents the underlying data on core indicator 'Reproductive disorders: malformed embryos of amphipods 2018'. The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on the presence of hazardous substances in the bottom sediments. The rate of embryo malformations indicates reproductive toxicity due to the presence of hazardous substances in the bottom sediments. The threshold value has not been achieved on all stations within each basin indicating that toxic effects of contaminants may be present. The variability of the malformation rate is much greater within a basin than between the Bothnian Sea and the Baltic proper. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 2 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins). Attribute information: "YEAR" = Year of sampling "Basin" = Subbasin abbreviation "REGION" = Region code within the Baltic Sea "STATN" = Station "Lat_WGS84d" = latitude coordinate of station "Lon_WGS84d" = longitude coordinate of station "TotalEmbry" = Total embryos "UNDIFFiren" = Undifferentiated "MALFORmed" = Malformed "MEMBraneDa" = Membrane damage "FemalesWME" = Females with malformed embryos "NofFemales" = Number of Females "AveFecundi" = Average Fecundity "STN" = "FFemWAE" = Frequency Females with aberrated embryos "FreqAberrE" = Frequency Aberrant Embryos "inGES_Fem" = inGES (Females) "inGES_Emb" = inGES (Embryos) "inGES_Over" = inGES (overall)

This dataset contains all PAH in biota monitoring station locations, observed matrix, biota matrix and monitored species as reported to HELCOM secretariat by HELCOM Contracting Parties by 2016.

This dataset describes fishing intensity for OT MIX CRU DMF mobile bottom contacting gear in 2016 based on VMS/Log book data processed by ICES Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD). ICES secretariat collected during 2017 relevant VMS and logbook data for 2009-2016 to produce, as a technical service to HELCOM, updated spatial data layers on fishing intensity/pressure. Improved data quality control checks were implemented. Submitted data across the HELCOM area have improved in quality compared to previous data 2009-2013 published in 2015. Standardized methods were used to produce the requested data layers. The code used to create the data products is available here: https://github.com/ices-eg/wg_WGSFD For further technical information on the advice request, see http://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2017/Special_requests/helcom.2017.18.pdf HELCOM secretariat did the following processing to the shapefile provided by ICES: - Conversion to ETRS89LAEA coordinate system - Added feature and attribute "Reported" to display unreported areas. Dataset attribute information: c-square: Unique reference of the c-square polygon Year: Year of fishing activity mid_lat: latitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees mid_lon: longitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees SurfaceSAR: Surface area ratio (Swept area, < 2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) Subsurface: Subsurface area ratio (Swept area, subsurface =>2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) totweight: Total Weight (kg) totvalue: Total value (Euros) Kw Fishing Hours: (Kw*h) Fishing hours: (h) Reported: Yes=Reported data. No= No reported data (area that does not contain effort/intensity value due to lack of reported data). Please note that this dataset was updated (v2) in January 2019, see further details below in the lineage section.

This dataset contains all PAH stations by sub-basin in the Baltic Sea as reported to the HELCOM MORE project.