Regional seas around Europe

• MSFD - Article 4 - Spatial data

The present map provides the spatial extent of the regional seas around Europe. The dataset includes information on the MSFD regions and subregions, as agreed by the MSFD Committee in November 2016.
In the Marine Strategy Framework Directive - MSFD (Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community action in the field of marine environmental policy), four marine regions are listed (Article 4): Baltic Sea, North-east Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, among which the following two are further divided into four subregions each. In the context of MSFD, the North-east Atlantic Ocean includes:

• The Greater North Sea, including the Kattegat and the English Channel
• The Celtic Seas
• The Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast
• Macaronesia

In the context of MSFD, the Iceland Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the high seas are not included.
In the context of MSFD, the Mediterranean Sea includes:

• The Western Mediterranean Sea
• The Adriatic Sea
• The Ionian Sea and the Central Mediterranean Sea
• The Aegean-Levantine Sea

The delineation of the marine regions and subregions under the MSFD has been developed since 2010 based on multiple inputs from Member State representatives participating in groups defined under the MSFD Common Implementation Strategy, reporting under the MSFD Initial Assessment, ICES advice and Marine Regions. The process has been developed under the MSFD CIS Working Group on Data, Information and Knowledge Exchange (WGDIKE) through documents DIKE 3/2011/06 from 5-6th September 2011, DIKE 4/2011/05 from 7-8th November 2011, DIKE 5/2012/08 from 12-13th March 2012, DIKE TG1/2012/04 from 4th July 2012 and, lastly, DIKE 6/2012/11 from 30-31th October 2012. Since then, it has been developed through cooperation between DG ENV, EEA and the ETC-ICM (via ICES as an ETC-ICM partner) and a consultation with Member States in 2015. A map with the layers of marine regions and subregions has also been through a Commission inter-service consultation with all DG’s led by DG ENV and adopted by EU Member States in the MSFD Committee in November 2016. The boundaries between the marine regions and subregions were harmonised with existing boundaries established under the Regional Sea Conventions, the biogeographic boundaries established under the Habitats Directive and the boundaries of marine waters reported by EU Member States under the MSFD. The ICES ecoregions are being aligned with the MSFD region and subregion boundaries. The landward boundary of all regions and subregions has used the “EEA coastline for analysis” (see https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/eea-coastline-for-analysis-2); this is a practical solution because the MSFD landward boundary formally follows that defined for coastal waters under the Water Framework Directive, for which a consistent boundary is not yet available for all reporting countries. Therefore, since it includes the delineation of marine regions and subregions agreed under the MSFD, the present map should take into account the following:

1. The marine regions and subregions defined under the MSFD are intended for the sole purpose of supporting the implementation of the MSFD by Member States, stakeholders and the European Commission and its agencies.
2. The present map provides boundaries of the marine regions and subregions as listed in MSFD Article 4, together with the delineation of other relevant seas surrounding Europe.
3. The map is not intended to provide boundaries of the marine waters of Member States. This means that the map does not represent the geographic scope of application of the MSFD as the MSFD only applies to Member States' marine waters, which are understood to lie within the marine regions and subregions. Further, in those areas of Member States' marine waters, the map makes no distinction between the jurisdiction over both the water column and the seabed or only the seabed.
4. As such the map should not be understood as representing international marine borders. To this end, the following disclaimer will accompany the map: "This map serves as a working mean only and shall not be considered as an official or legally-binding map representing marine borders in accordance with international laws. This map shall be used without prejudice to the agreements that will be concluded between Member States or between Member States and non-EU Countries in respect of their marine borders.".
5. As they are not intended to provide boundaries of Member States' marine waters, the landward boundaries used do not constitute the formal boundary of these marine waters, but instead use a harmonised coastline boundary for cartographic consistency.
6. In the North East Atlantic Ocean region, the outer boundary of the Celtic Seas, Bay of Biscay, and the Iberian Coast and Macaronesia subregions is intended to fully encompass the marine waters of the relevant Member States. This includes the Continental Shelf areas where these extend beyond Exclusive Economic Zones. For the North East Atlantic Ocean region, the boundaries shown in the present map include those Continental Shelf areas which have so far been reported by the Member States concerned. As and when Member States report modifications to the boundaries of their marine waters, such as further Continental Shelf areas following conclusions under UNCLOS processes, the map should be updated.
7. Notwithstanding the need to update the map on the basis of point (f), the boundaries of the MSFD marine regions and subregions should be periodically reviewed to ensure they serve the purposes of the MSFD, and in particular an ecosystem-based approach to management of the marine environment. Such review should be undertaken in advance of the periodic updates of Article 8 and take into account the latest scientific evidence on the characteristics of the marine ecosystems, as reflected in MSFD Art. 3(2).

This map is an updated version of one of the layers in "Europe Seas - version 1, Dec. 2018" map, with the following updates:

• Wider Atlantic region delineated by the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (the ‘OSPAR Convention') and previously representing North East Atlantic Ocean region has been removed from the map.
• The Azov Sea does not fall within the geographic scope of application of the Bucharest Convention. Therefore, it has a different Id than the Black Sea region, even though it is part of the MSFD Black Sea region.
• The sea of Marmara, located entirely within the borders of Turkey, is not considered here.
• The outward boundary of Macaronesia has been updated in order to fully encompass the latest marine waters reported by Portugal and according to UNCLOS.
• Following Brexit, United Kingdom marine waters have been excluded.

• MSFD Regions and sub regions - version 2.0 Oct. 2022
• EEA coastline for analysis (polygon) - version 3.0, March 2017
• Europe Seas - version 1, Dec. 2018