This dataset contains all indicator and assessment results and data for the State of the Baltic Sea (HOLAS II) 2017 version. Final 2018 versions are included separately in HELCOM Map and Data service and metadata catalogue. All datasets for HOLAS II and associated metadata were here compiled. The datasets are: Abundance of coastal fish key functional group cyprinids Abundance of coastal fish key functional group piscivores Abundance of coastal fish species Abundance of salmon spawners and smolt Abundance of waterbirds in the breeding season Abundance of waterbirds in the wintering season Chlorophyll a status Cyanobacterial bloom Dissolved inorganic nitrogen Dissolved inorganic phosphorous Distribution of grey seals Distribution of harbour seals Distribution of ringed seals Eutrophication assessment insitu data Heavy metals – Cadmium (Cd) levels Heavy metals – Lead (Pb) levels Heavy metals – Mercury (Hg) levels Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) levels Integrated biodiversity status assessment for benthic habitats Integrated biodiversity status assessment for fish Integrated biodiversity status assessment for grey seals Integrated biodiversity status assessment for harbour porpoises Integrated biodiversity status assessment for pelagichabitats Integrated biodiversity status assessment for ringed seals Integrated biodiversity status assessment for seals Integrated contamination status assessment Integrated eutrophication status assessment Oxygen det PCB dioxin and furan Perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their metabolites Polybrominated diphenyl ethers Cesium-137 in fish Cesium-137 in flatfish Cesium-137 in herring Cesium-137 in seawater Malformed embryos of amphipods State of the soft bottom macrofauna community TBT and imposex Total nitrogen Total phosphorous Trend in arrival of new non-indigenous species Water clarity Zooplankton mean size and total stock MSTS

HELCOM Marine Protected Areas database (HELCOM MPA database) contains following information: The HELCOM MPA database contains information related to each MPA described in MPA fact sheets, which contains general information on the MPA, management plans, species, biotopes, biotope complexes as well as pressures and human activities related to the MPA. The HELCOM MPA database can be access from http://mpas.helcom.fi Spatial data on areas of MPAs, described in a separate shapefile: http://metadata.helcom.fi/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/d27df8c0-de86-4d13-a06d-35a8f50b16fa The designation of HELCOM MPAs is based on the HELCOM Recommendation 15/5 (1994). The data contained in HELCOM MPA database is reported by HELCOM Contracting Parties and has been collected since 2007 to HELCOM BSPA (Baltic Sea Protected Areas) database. The database was updated to Oracle database solution in ECONET project during 2015 and gradually updated as new information becomes available. The content of HELCOM MPA database is verified annually in HELCOM State & Conservation meetings.

This dataset describes fishing intensity for Seine mobile bottom contacting gear in 2015 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.

The dataset represents urban land use (artificial surfaces) around the Baltic Sea coast. The dataset is constructed from CORINE Land Cover (CLC) 2018, Version 2020_20u1 (https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-land-cover/clc2018?tab=metadata) for EU countries and from Open Street Map (OSM) open source data for Russia. Attribute specification and units: Code_18: Class applied for CLC 2018 ID:CLC 2018 ID or OpenStreetMap ID Code: Nomenclature of the class source: "Corine" or "OSM"

Observations of Cliona celata 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. Cliona celatahas 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.

This dataset describes fishing intensity for OT SPF 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.

The data set is showing rocky shores and stone reefs in the Baltic Sea area as polylines used for the BRISK project (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea, http://www.brisk.helcom.fi/). This dataset has been produced by COWI (http://www.cowi.dk) based on data collected from Baltic Sea countries and data redrawn from Bird & Schwartz (1985) Figure 2.7 Major coast types in the Baltic and HELCOM (1993) Tacis rapport. The dataset includes data provided by the BRISK Project Partner organisations. The detailed documentation of what partner provided what data is given in the Annex of the document: 70618-3.1.2.2 Data Collection Report

This dataset describes fishing effort (hours/c-square) for all gear types in 2009 based on VMS/Log book data processed by ICES Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD). HELCOM requires spatially explicit information on fishing activity affecting the Baltic Sea marine ecosystem for policy purposes. In order to obtain this information a joint ICES/HELCOM/OSPAR data call was issued to relevant authorities of contracting parties to deliver information on fishing activity based on VMS/Log book data. The raw data was submitted to ICES and processed to advice data products by ICES Working Group for Spatial Fisheries (WGSFD) as requested by HELCOM. Processing of the raw data requires specific resources, knowledge and guarantee of anonymity for specific vessels, thus the process was done by ICES WGSFD following Conditions for VMS data use. In 2015 ICES collated Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and logbook data received; data from Russia were not received. ICES provided to HELCOM advice as fishing abrasion pressure maps as well as fishing effort maps. HELCOM secretariat did the following processing to the data: - 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 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 Year: Year of fishing activity quarter: Quarter of the year, if applicable geargroup: Fishing gear group (Effort maps) SubsurfSAR: Subsurface swept area ratio (Intensity maps) SurfSAR: Surface swept area ratio (Intensity maps) Fishing_ho: Total fishing effort in hours within c-square (Effort maps) Reported: Yes=Reported data. No= No reported data (area that does not contain effort/intensity value due to lack of reported data.

Observations of Eurydice pulchra 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. Eurydice pulchra has been placed to the Red List category of Data Deficient (DD) 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.

Observations of Vitreolina philippi 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. Vitreolina philippi has been placed to the Red List category of Data Deficient (DD) 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.