Spatial overlap between human activities and seabed habitats in European Seas: Insights into EMODnet's data for management purposes

A critical prerequisite for the assessment and management of human activities and natural ecosystem components, is the availability of data and information on their spatial and temporal distribution. Based on European seabed habitats and human activities datasets publicly available in EMODnet portal, and adopting the Marine Reporting Units (MRUs) defined by the Marine Strategy Framework and Water Framework Directives, this study analyses the (i) geographical overlap of human activities and seabed habitats, and (ii) the suitability, limitations and gaps of these datasets for management purposes. The analysis concerns an area of 19,269,645 km2 and 6,539 assessment units. Seabed habitats information is available for 75% of the total area and gaps are found in several littoral areas and the outermost Atlantic regions. Significant difference in the number of records per human activity type are also reported, corresponding the highest number of records to the State of Bathing waters monitoring stations, and Active licences and Boreholes for hydrocarbon extraction. A good coverage of vessel traffic information is also available. Most human activity records are located on coastal water bodies (49%) and subregions (37%), but for several MRUs records are not available. From the 63 EUNIS habitat types, 11 host more than 20 different activities, although many available records are located in areas with no seabed habitats information. The information and datasets elaborated in this research may be useful to support different environmental assessment and management initiatives. However, the completion and improvement of these datasets is highly recommended to fulfil policy requirements.

Automated summary

This study analyzes the geographical overlap of human activities and seabed habitats, as well as the suitability, limitations, and gaps of these datasets for management purposes. While there are some gaps in the data, the information and datasets generated may be useful for supporting different environmental assessment and management initiatives.