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

Distribution of Fucus sp. based on data submission by HELCOM contracting parties. Mainly pointwise occurrences of Fucus were submitted, originally gathered in national mapping and monitoring campaigns, or for scientific research purposes. From Estonian waters, a predictive model was used (200m resolution), that was converted to presence/absence using minimized difference threshold (MDT) criteria. All data (Fucus points and the raster presenting predicted presence of Fucus) were generalized to 5km x 5km grid cells.

Data for Furcellaria harvesting presenting the amount of dredged tonnes per unit area per year. The data was made available by HELCOM Contracting Parties in response to data request. The data was received from Estonia. The activity was declared as not relevant in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. Attribute specification and units: Dredged_ar: Furcellaria dredging area (km2, ND = no data available) Area: Area (fishing area) within dredging occurs (km2), area do not represent actual dredging area. 2011 - 2015: Amount of dredged Furcellaria (tonnes / year) Total: Amount (Sum) of dredged Furcellaria during 2011-2015 (tonnes) Average: Calculated annual average of the amount of dredged Furcellaria (tonnes/year)

Broad-scale habitat maps for the Baltic Sea have been produced in the EUSeaMap project in 2016. For German and Estonian marine areas, national (more accurate) datasets were used. German data included both substrate and light information (division into infralittoral/circalittoral). Estonian data included only substrate and the division into light regimes was obtained from the EuSeaMap data. Here, the habitat class “circalittoral sand includes classes “Sand” and “Muddy sand” of the original data, in the circalittoral zone. The original polygon maps have been converted to 1 km x 1km grid. The scale of the substrate data used in broad-scale habitat maps varies from 1:250 000 to 1:1M (data from EMODnet Geology). Coarser resolution data has been used in areas, where 1: 250 000 substrate data has not been available. Due to different scales used, the habitat classes may show different sized patterns in different areas.

This dataset contains all PCB in seawater monitoring station locationsas reported to HELCOM secretariat by HELCOM Contracting Parties by 2016.

This dataset is built from the following Human activities dataset: • Hunting of seals The number of hunted seals (see separate metadata on hunting of seals) were averaged over 2011-2014 separately for grey seals, ringed seals and harbour seals (e.g. number of hunted grey seals / year). In Sweden the numbers of hunted grey seals in 2011 (74) were reported for the whole Swedish territorial waters), but here the numbers were set only to Swedish Gulf of Bothnia, as corresponding numbers were reported there in 2013 (75) and 2014 (65). The area of the reporting unit was used to calculate the number of hunted seals / km2 and the data was converted to 1km x 1km grid. For the Baltic Sea Impact Index, the values were normalized. Normalized value 0.5 was set to the level of quota for hunting of seal species in the Baltic Sea. The following quotas for hunting were used: Grey seal: 2000, Ringed seal: 350, Harbour seal 230.

Sandbanks (according to Habitats Directive Annex I) are areas elevated from their surroundings that consist mainly of sand, but where cobbles and boulders can occur. Distribution map is based on data submission by HELCOM contracting parties. Most of the submitted data is based on modelling, GIS analysis and only limited ground-truthing has been carried out. Data coverage, accuracy and the methods in obtaining the data vary between countries.

This dataset contains all PFOS in sediment monitoring station locationsas reported to HELCOM secretariat by HELCOM Contracting Parties by 2016.

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

Shellfish production in kilograms in 2010-2015 in geometry form: points. Swedish data covers only the permitted production in year 2015. The data was made available by HELCOM Contracting Parties in response to data request. The data was received from Denmark (area), Germany (points) and Sweden (points). The activity was declared as not relevant in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia. Attribute specification and units: Country: Country NAME: Name of production place PRODUCTION: Species in production COUNTY: County of production KOMMENTAR : Comments