This dataset describes fishing intensity for subsurface 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.

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.

Observations of Actitis hypoleucos 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. Actitis hypoleucos has been placed to the Red List category of Near Threatened (NT) species. The map shows the species range only during the breeding season.

This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of heavy metal Mercury (Hg) in fish muscle. Quantitative threshold value is used to evaluate if core indicators status is "Achieve", "Fail" or "Not assessed". Threshold values are based on Environmental quality standards (EQS), defined at EU level for substances included in the priority list under the Water Framework Directive. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (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). Attribute information: "OBJECTID" = Object identification "HELCOM_ID" = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "Descriptio" = Description of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "Contamination ratio" = Contamination ratio in biota for this substance "STATUS" = Status of the indicator in biota, which in this case is also the overall Status, one-out-all-out (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

Mudflats and sandflats not covered by seawater at low tide (according to Habitats Directive Annex I) are often devoid of vascular plants, usually coated by blue algae and diatoms. They are of particular importance as feeding grounds for wildfowl and waders. The distribution map is based on data submission by HELCOM contracting parties. Only Denmark, Germany and Estonia reported occurrences of mudflats and sandflats. Most of the submitted data is based on modelling and/or GIS analysis. Data coverage, accuracy and the methods in obtaining the data vary between countries.

Summary Estimated observations of the biotope AA.I3L11, AB.I3L11, AA.J3L11 and AB.J3L11 were collected from the Baltic Sea area by expert judgements for HELCOM Red List of biotopes, habitats and biotope complexes. Description Baltic photic or aphotic coarse sediment dominated by multiple infaunal polychaete species including Ophelia spp Baltic photic or aphotic sand dominated by multiple infaunal polychaete species including Ophelia spp. and Travisia forbesii The HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea underwater biotopes, habitats and biotope complexes (2013) is an updated and improved version of the Red List assessment of marine and coastal biotopes and biotope complexes published in 1998. The classification of the report follows the proposed International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria and assessment principals but with some modifications for the Baltic Sea. Altogether, the HELCOM Underwater Biotope and habitat classification (HELCOM HUB) includes 209 biotopes of which 59 were red-listed. Many of the red-listed biotopes are located in deep areas of the Baltic Sea due to oxygen-free nature as well as in the southwestern Baltic Sea due to the salinity restricted distribution of species in certain biotope. The HELCOM assessment relies heavily on expert judgment and inference, and the questionnaire data represents the estimated presence-absence data not in-situ measured data. This must be taken in account when observing the map presentation. The biotopes are shown on the map using the EEA 100 km grid. This dataset displays estimated presence of AA.I3L11, AB.I3L11, AA.J3L11 andAB.J3L11according to HELCOM RED LIST assessment experts: The biotope occurs mainly in the southern and western parts of the Baltic Sea area, but is very rare. They are found in exposed abrasion areas (sandbanks, near-shore wave exposed shallow sublittoral). Kiel bight to Darss sill. The distribution map indicates the area in the 100 x 100 km grid where biotope is known to occur. AA.I3L11, AB.I3L11, AA.J3L11 andAB.J3L11have been placed in the Red List classification to the category of Near Threatened (NT) biotopes. (Data (expert judgements) collected in HELCOM RED LIST project, released in May 2013)

This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) metabolites in biota. Quantitative threshold value is used to classify core indicators status in “Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”. As There is no commonly agreed threshold value for measuring metabolites available, this report only considers concentrations of contaminants. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (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). Attribute specifications and units: "HELCOM_ID" = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "country": country in which the HELCOM assessment unit is located or a mention to an open sea area "level_2" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in scale 2 "Name" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in scale 4 "Open_sea" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in the open sea "F2_Name" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit "determinan" = Determinat "est" = The estimated mean loge concentration in the assessment unit "se" = The standard error on the estimated mean log concentration in the assessment unit "fit" = The estimated mean concentration in the assessment unit "upper_cl" = Upper one-sided 95% confidence limit on the mean concentration: exp(est + qnorm(0.95) * see) "Status" = Overall Status of the indicator according to one-out-all-out

Input of hazardous substances pressure layer is interpolated from CHASE Assessment tool concentration component. The contamination ratio values were calculated with CHASE Assessment tool for hazardous substances monitored in water, sediment and biota. Classified mean contamination ratio was used in the interpolation. Classification is based on the http://stateofthebalticsea.helcom.fi/about-helcom-and-the-assessment/downloads-and-data/. The points were interpolated to cover the entire Baltic Sea with Spline with barriers interpolation method. Please see "lineage" section below for further details on attributes, data source, data processing, etc.

This indicator evaluates the eutrophication status of the Baltic Sea area based on annual total phosphorus concentration. The measured average total phosphorus on in-situ measurements from oceanographic monitoring data for 2011-2016 (µmol/l), surface water (0-10 m). More detailed description on methodology can be found at http://www.helcom.fi/baltic-sea-trends/indicators/total-phosphorus-(tp)/ and http://www.helcom.fi/Documents/Eutrophication%20assessment%20manual.pdf This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 open sea sub-basins and division of coastal areas to WFD water types or water bodies). The open sea areas have been assessed based on HELCOM Monitoring data and results for coastal areas are based on national WFD results. Some of the open sea areas have not been assessed due to lack of commonly agreed threshold value. Attribute information: “HELCOM_ID” = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "Country" = Country/ Opensea "level_2" = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Name" = Name of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit” "Area (km2)" = Area of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Indicator" = Name of indicator “Season” = Season of the indicator (Summer = June-September) “Period” = Assessment unit period start and end year (20112016 = 2011 – 2016) "Indicator value (ES)" = Indicator value calculated for the assessment unit "Standard deviation (STD)" = Standard deviation of data used for calculating ES "Number of samples " = Number of samples "Thershold value (ET)" = Commonly agreed thershold value "Ratio between ES and ET (ER)" = Ratio between ES and ET (in case of indicator with positive response to eutrophication) "ES_SCORE” = Confidence based on the data used for calculating ES "ET_SCORE” = Confidence of target-setting procedure "I_SCORE” = Confidence (%) = average of ES-Score and ET-Score "Indicator Weight" = Indicator Weight in integrated eutrophication assessment “Status” = Status of the indicator (“Good”, “Not good”, “Not assessed” or "Not applicable") “Confidence” = Confidence of result based on I-SCORE (“High”, “Moderate” or “Low”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator "Winter status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) in winter "Winter ratio between ES and ET (ER)" = Ratio between ES and ET (in case of indicator with positive response to eutrophication) in winter "Winter indicator value (ES)" = Commonly agreed thershold value in winter

The dataset contains the location of oil refineries derived from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR). The dataset covers all HELCOM Contracting Parties except Russia.