Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) - Geoserver WMS Service

ETOPO1 global relief model (bedrock) (ETOPO1_Bed_g_geotiff)

ETOPO1 is a 1 arc-minute global relief model of Earth's surface that integrates land topography and ocean bathymetry. Built from global and regional data sets, it is available in "Ice Surface" (top of Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets) and "Bedrock" (base of the ice sheets). The grid-registered is the authoritative registration. Horizontal datum: WGS 84 geographic Vertical datum: sea level. More specific vertical datums, such as mean sea level, mean high water, and mean low water, differ by less than the vertical accuracy of ETOPO1 (~10 meters at best), and are therefore effectively equivalent.

Arctic Marine Areas (arcticmarineareas)

There are many ways to divide the Arctic marine region—by ecosystem/ecological characteristics, by administrative criteria, or by some combination of the two. However, effective monitoring of biodiversity requires that an ecosystem-based approach be used for choosing areas. http://geo.abds.is/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/dcd5c12f-3acb-4101-8e1a-bba0aec50582

Coasts per ocean (20150814) (coasts_per_ocean)

Continental margins between 140m and 3500m depth (comarge)

This shapefile has been prepared in the framework of COMARGE, one of the field project of the Census of Marine Life. It is intended to represent continental margins worldwide, with the exclusion of the continental shelf. The continental margins have been defined based on bathymetry and expert opinion. The upper margin of the boundary has been set at 140 m depth, which is the average depth of the shelf break, except in Antarctica where the shelf break goes deeper and the upper boundary has been set up at 500 m. The lower boundary has been set at 3500 m depth. Both isobaths were extracted from S2004 Bathymetry (a global bathymetry at 1 arc-minute resolution). The upper and lower boundaries were manually edited to follow the contour of continental margins in particular cases. Please note that some but not all margins around island are included in this shapefile.

Emission Control Areas (ECAs) designated under regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI (NOx emission control) (eca_reg13_nox)

Polygon data representing the Emission Control Areas (ECAs) designated under regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI (NOx emission control). The outline coordinates were processed in June 2019. The coastline was extracted from the ESRI Countries 2014. Available ECAs: 1) North American area (regulation 13.6.1 and appendix VII of MARPOL Annex VI); 2) United States Caribbean sea area (regulation 13.6.2 and appendix VII of MARPOL Annex VI) Preferred citation: Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium; (2020). Emission Control Areas (ECAs) designated under regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI (NOx emission control). Available online at http://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/396

Extended Continental Shelves (v01, world, 2022) (ecs)

This dataset represents the legal continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles as submitted to/recommended by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) or deposited to the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS). In the Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase, Marine Regions makes available most of the maritime areas defined in the Law of the Sea Convention: Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), Territorial Seas (TS), Contiguous Zones (CZ), Internal Waters (IW), Archipelagic Waters (AW) and High Seas (HS).

Exclusive Economic Zones (200 NM) (v12, world, 2023) (eez)

Version 12 of the Exclusive Economic Zones from the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a seazone extending from a state's coast or baseline over which the state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. Generally a state's EEZ extends 200 nautical miles out from its coast, except where resulting points would be closer to another country. This dataset also contains delimitation of disputed areas and joint regimes.

Contiguous Zones (24 NM) (v4, world, 2023) (eez_24nm)

Version 4 of the Contiguous Zones from the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. The Contiguous Zone is a band of water extending from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to 24 nautical miles (44.4 km; 27.6 mi) from the baseline.

Maritime Boundaries (v12, world, 2023) (eez_boundaries)

Version 12 of the Maritime Boundaries from the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. Boundaries have been built using information about treaties between coastal countries. When treaties are not available, median lines have been calculated. This dataset also contains delimitation of disputed boundaries and joint regimes.

Marineregions: the intersect of the Exclusive Economic Zones and IHO areas (eez_iho_union_v2)

The maritime boundaries provide a useful tool to limit national marine areas, but do not include information on marine regional and sub regional seas. This hampers the usage of these boundaries for implementing nature conservation strategies or analyzing marine biogeographic patterns. For example, a species occurring in the German EEZ can live in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea or Kattegat area. Each of these different marine areas has very distinct hydrological, oceanographic and ecological conditions. Therefore, by combining the information on regional seas and national maritime boundaries, we can include both a environmental and managerial factor. We propose to overlay the information from the maritime boundaries (the Exclusive Economic Zones) with the IHO Sea Areas (IHO, 1953). This map including the global oceans and seas, has been drafted for hydrographic purposes, but also gives an unequivocal and acceptable distinction of the regional seas and oceans from an oceanographic point of view. The combination of these two boundaries allows us for example to create national regional sea areas for the global ocean.

Marine and land zones: the union of world country boundaries and EEZ's (eez_land)

This dataset combines the boundaries of the world countries and the Exclusive Economic Zones of the world. It was created by combining the ESRI world country database and the EEZ version 11 dataset.

FAO Statistical Areas for Fishery Purposes (fao)

FAO Major Fishing Areas for Statistical Purposes are arbitrary areas, the boundaries of which were determined in consultation with international fishery agencies on various considerations, including (i) the boundary of natural regions and the natural divisions of oceans and seas; (ii) the boundaries of adjacent statistical fisheries bodies already established in inter-governmental conventions and treaties; (iii) existing national practices; (iv) national boundaries; (v) the longitude and latitude grid system; (vi) the distribution of the aquatic fauna; and (vii) the distribution of the resources and the environmental conditions within an area. Purpose: The rationale of the FAO Major Fishing Areas has been that the areas should, as far as possible, coincide with the areas of competence of other fishery commissions when existing. This system facilitates comparison of data, and improves the possibilities of cooperation in statistical matters in general.

Miscellaneous polygons Marine Regions gazetteer (world, 2019) (gazetteer_polygon)

Miscellaneous polygons that are being used to provide geometric information for Marine Regions gazetteer features. Sources - Slope Sea: Richardson, D. E., Marancik, K. E., Guyon, J. R., Lutcavage, M. E., Galuardi, B., Lam, C. H., ... & Hare, J. A. (2016). Discovery of a spawning ground reveals diverse migration strategies in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(12), 3299-3304. - Ubatuba: The World Bank Data Catalog - Pila, Villa Gesell: Instituto Geográfico Nacional de la República Argentina - South Sandwich Islands: British Antarctic Survey, South Georgia GIS - Midway Atoll, Isle of Man: World Countries 2014 database from ESRI (data from DeLorme, 2014) - Norwegian fjords: Norwegian Environment Agency, Norway; (2011): The Fjord catalog. , available online at https://kartkatalog.geonorge.no/metadata/miljodirektoratet/d4b28454-ebd6-4425-9a66-00cb2d7e57ed - Saint-Malo: Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN-F), available online at https://geoservices.ign.fr/ - Arrabida: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2021), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) [Online], September 2021, Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net. - Dorsal de Nasca: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN (2023), Protected Planet: The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) and World Database on Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (WD-OECM) [Online], August 2023, Cambridge, UK: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net. - Antarctic 200 NM zone beyond the coastline: Flanders Marine Institute (2019). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM), version 11. Available online at http://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/386

GSAS - Mediterranean Fishing Zones (gsas_mediterraneanfishingzones)

High Seas (v1, world, 2020) (high_seas)

High Seas from the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea describes the high seas as ‘all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State.’ In the Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase, Marine Regions makes available most of the maritime areas defined in the Law of the Sea Convention: Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), Territorial Seas (TS), Contiguous Zones (CZ), Internal Waters (IW), Archipelagic Waters (AW) and High Seas (HS). Flanders Marine Institute (2020). Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: High Seas, version 1. Available online at http://www.marineregions.org/ https://doi.org/10.14284/418. Methodology: https://www.marineregions.org/eezmethodology.php

ICES Ecoregions (2015) (ices_ecoregions)

Delineation of the ICES Ecoregions was originally described in ICES Advice ACFM/ACE report(2004). In the present updated version, the delineation has been updated to account for additional policy objectives and reconciling of legislation (eg the MSFD and the EU water and habitats directives) The differences are based on the four principles: 1. Within the EU accept the MSFD regional and sub-regional definitions. 2. Separate Icelandic Seas from those around Greenland. 3. Use Large Marine Ecosystem units to define the Arctic Ocean. 4. Use the accepted Norwegian regional management plans definitions of the Norwegian and Barents Seas. The Ecoregions were proposed to assist the implementation of the ecosystem approach in European waters

IHO Sea Areas (v3) (iho)

World seas represents the boundaries for the major oceans and seas of the world. The source for the boundaries is the publication 'Limits of Oceans & Seas, Special Publication No. 23' published by the IHO in 1953. (http://www.marineregions.org/files/S23_1953.pdf)

Clarion Clipperton Zone (ISA Environmental Management Area, 2023) (isa_ccz_managementarea)

Preferred citation: International Seabed Authority (2023). The geographical limits of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone management area, exploration areas, reserved areas and areas of particular environmental interest (APEIs) (ISBA/17/LTC/7, ISBA/18/C/22, ISBA/26/C/58, ISBA/26/C/43). Esri shapefiles for exploration areas, reserved areas and APEIs are available online at https://www.isa.org.jm/exploration-contracts/maps/. Accessed on (date).

land_v9 (coastline for Maritime Boundaries v9, without attribute information) (land_v9)

The ESRI Countries 2014 was the primary source for the Maritime Boundaries v9 baseline. The coastline was extracted from the ESRI Countries 2014 and then combined with reefs data extracted from Coral Reef Distribution UNEP for the countries where reefs were fundamental for the correct calculation of the maritime areas, as intended by the coastal state. Several other fixes were made to the coastline to ensure that the coastline could be used as an appropriate normal baseline for the drawing of the multiple Maritime Boundaries areas. More information: http://www.marineregions.org/eezmethodology.php

Global Biogeochemical Provinces (Longhurst) (longhurst)

The dataset represents the division of the world oceans into provinces as defined by Longhurst (1995; 1998; 2006). The division has been based on the prevailing role of physical forcing as a regulator of phytoplankton distribution. The dataset contains the initial static boundaries developed at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada. Note that the boundaries of these provinces are not fixed in time and space, but are dynamic and move under seasonal and interannual changes in physical forcing. At the first level of reduction, Longhurst recognised four principal biomes: the Polar biome, the Westerlies biome, the Trade winds biome, and the Coastal biome. These four biomes are recognised in every major ocean basin. At the next level of reduction, the ocean basins are divided into provinces, roughly ten for each basin. These regions provide a template for data analysis or for making parameter assignments on a global scale. Please refer to Longhurst's publications when using these shapefiles.

Offshore mineral rights areas Norway (mra_nor_blocks)

Mineral rights areas are geographical units where exploration and exploitation of mineral resources (e.g. oil, gas) can take place. The areas are delineated by governmental agencies and (parts of) these areas can be licensed off to companies following a bidding round, allowing them to develop their activities in the area. Mineral rights areas occur both onshore and offshore. The smallest unit of division is a ‘block’. A number of blocks form a ‘quad’. The mineral rights areas that can be found in the Marine Regions gazetteer only consist of the offshore units. The license data, which are subject to frequent alterations, are not incorporated in the data set in order to provide a sustainable link to the described features. The license data can be consulted through the awarding government’s website. The area of each block was calculated and added as a field to the attribute table.

North America Coastal Water Bodies (na_coastalwaterbodies)

This layer represents oceans, bays, lagoons, and estuaries in and near the United States and Canada. Source: ESRI http://www.esri.com/~/media/Files/Pdfs/legal/pdfs/redist_rights_10.1.pdf

OSPAR Regions (North-East Atlantic, 2014) (ospar_regions)

Shapefile created based on the outer en inner boundary of the OSPAR maritime area. Both shapefiles were downloaded from the OSPAR website and merged into 1 file (2014-04-25). The coastline used is EEA coastline for analysis (line) - version 1.0, Jun. 2013 from the European Environment Agency.

SeaVoX - Sea Areas Polygons (v17, 2019) (seavox_v17)

SeaVoX is a combined SeaDataNet and MarineXML vocabulary content governance group, it is moderated by BODC (https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/codes_and_formats/seavox/). This polygon data set defines the geographic extent of the terms specified by the SeaVoX vocabulary governance to describe coherent regions of the hydrosphere. It includes land masses enclosing freshwater bodies. The coastline data set used in the shapefile is taken from the World Vector Shoreline data set (scale 1:250,000). Reference for the data set: "polygon data set of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer, http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/C19/current/". The data file follows a hierarchical structure with each region consisting of one or more polygons. This approach was adopted to avoid the need to have overlapping polygons in regions where a sea area included a number of sub-regions, for example the Mediterranean Sea includes the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea etc. The following gives the level in the structure at which particular regions, which consist of more than one polygon can be found. This level in the structure is given by the polygon's attributes. Attribute: REGION: ARCTIC OCEAN, ATLANTIC OCEAN,BALTIC SEA,INDIAN OCEAN,MEDITERRANEAN REGION,PACIFIC OCEAN,SOUTH CHINA AND EASTERN ARCHIPELAGIC SEAS,SOUTHERN OCEAN,MAINLAND NORTH AMERICAMAINLAND,EUROPE,MAINLAND ASIA Attribute: LEVEL_1: ARAFURA SEA,DAVIS SEA,GREENLAND SEA,GULF OF BOTHNIA,MEDITERRANEAN SEA,NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN,ROSS SEA,SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN,TIMOR SEA, LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKED Attribute: LEVEL_2: MEDITERRANEAN SEA, WESTERN BASIN,MEDITERRANEAN SEA,EASTERN BASIN,NORTHEAST ATLANTIC OCEAN (40W),NORTHEAST PACIFIC OCEAN (180W),NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN (40W),NORTHWEST PACIFIC OCEAN (180W),SOUTHEAST ATLANTIC OCEAN (20W),SOUTHEAST PACIFIC OCEAN (140W),SOUTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN (20W),SOUTHWEST PACIFIC OCEAN (140W) LAKE ERIE, LAKE SUPERIOR, DETROIT RIVER, ST. CLAIR RIVER, LAKE ST. CLAIR, NIAGARA RIVER, LAKE HURON, LAKE ONTARIO, LAKE MICHIGAN, ST. MARYS RIVER Attribute: LEVEL_3: BERING SEA,CORAL SEA,ENGLISH CHANNEL,JAPAN SEA,NORTH SEA,TASMAN SEA,YELLOW SEA Attribute: LEVEL_4: CARDIGAN BAY,DOVER STRAIT,FIRTH OF CLYDE,LIVERPOOL BAY,NORTH CHANNEL,POOLE BAY,SOLENT,SOLWAY FIRTH Attribute: SUB_REGION: This is the lowest level in the structure. This version of the shapefile corresponds to version 17 of the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer. This version includes the following updates: Addition of 5 new sub-regions: Hollands Diep, Krammer, Grevelingen, Haringvliet, and Bay of Brest Credits Polygon data set of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer, http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/C19/current/ Use limitations The source of the data set should be attributed as: "polygon data set of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer, http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/C19/current/"

SeaVoX - Sea Areas Polygons (v19, 2023) (seavox_v19)

SeaVoX is a combined SeaDataNet and MarineXML vocabulary content governance group, it is moderated by BODC (https://www.bodc.ac.uk/data/codes_and_formats/seavox/). This polygon data set defines the geographic extent of the terms specified by the SeaVoX vocabulary governance to describe coherent regions of the hydrosphere. It includes land masses enclosing freshwater bodies. The coastline data set used in the shapefile is taken from the World Vector Shoreline data set (scale 1:250,000). Reference for the data set: British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), United Kingdom; (2023): Polygon dataset of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer (v19). Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/590". The data file follows a hierarchical structure with each region consisting of one or more polygons. This approach was adopted to avoid the need to have overlapping polygons in regions where a sea area included a number of sub-regions, for example the Mediterranean Sea includes the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea etc. The following gives the level in the structure at which particular regions, which consist of more than one polygon can be found. This level in the structure is given by the polygon's attributes. Attribute: REGION: ARCTIC OCEAN, ATLANTIC OCEAN,BALTIC SEA,INDIAN OCEAN,MEDITERRANEAN REGION,PACIFIC OCEAN,SOUTH CHINA AND EASTERN ARCHIPELAGIC SEAS,SOUTHERN OCEAN,MAINLAND NORTH AMERICAMAINLAND,EUROPE,MAINLAND ASIA Attribute: LEVEL_1: ARAFURA SEA,DAVIS SEA,GREENLAND SEA,GULF OF BOTHNIA,MEDITERRANEAN SEA,NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN,ROSS SEA,SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN,SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN,TIMOR SEA, LAURENTIAN GREAT LAKED Attribute: LEVEL_2: MEDITERRANEAN SEA, WESTERN BASIN,MEDITERRANEAN SEA,EASTERN BASIN,NORTHEAST ATLANTIC OCEAN (40W),NORTHEAST PACIFIC OCEAN (180W),NORTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN (40W),NORTHWEST PACIFIC OCEAN (180W),SOUTHEAST ATLANTIC OCEAN (20W),SOUTHEAST PACIFIC OCEAN (140W),SOUTHWEST ATLANTIC OCEAN (20W),SOUTHWEST PACIFIC OCEAN (140W), LAKE ERIE, LAKE SUPERIOR, DETROIT RIVER, ST. CLAIR RIVER, LAKE ST. CLAIR, NIAGARA RIVER, LAKE HURON, LAKE ONTARIO, LAKE MICHIGAN, ST. MARYS RIVER Attribute: LEVEL_3: BERING SEA,BRISTOL CHANNEL,CELTIC SEA,CORAL SEA,ENGLISH CHANNEL,GULF OF MAINE,INNER SEAS OFF THE WEST COAST OF SCOTLAND,IRISH SEA,JAPAN SEA,NORTH SEA,TASMAN SEA,YELLOW SEA Attribute: LEVEL_4: CARDIGAN BAY,DOVER STRAIT,FIRTH OF CLYDE,LIVERPOOL BAY,NORTH CHANNEL,POOLE BAY,SOLENT,SOLWAY FIRTH Attribute: SUB_REGION: This is the lowest level in the structure. This version of the shapefile corresponds to version 19 of the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer. This version includes the following updates: name sub-region 'Arctic Ocean' has changed to 'Central Arctic Ocean' Credits British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), United Kingdom; (2023): Polygon dataset of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer (v19). Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/590 Use limitations The source of the data set should be attributed as: British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC), United Kingdom; (2023): Polygon dataset of the extent of water bodies from the SeaVoX Salt and Fresh Water Body Gazetteer (v19). Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/590

World Bays, Gulfs, Lagoons, Inlets, Coves, Fjords, Creeks, .... (world_bay_gulf)

World Estuaries and deltas (world_estuary_delta)

UNESCO World Heritage Marine Sites (v02, 2023) (worldheritagemarineprogramme)

This file contains the shapefile of the 50 marine sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (as of 1 January 2023). Launched in 2005, the mission of the World Heritage Marine Programme is to establish effective conservation of existing and potential marine areas of Outstanding Universal Value to make sure they will be maintained and thrive for generations to come. In order to create the data, information from the UNESCO World Heritage Marine Programme and Protected Planet were collected and compiled. Citable as data publication UNESCO (2023). Boundaries of UNESCO World Heritage Marine Sites (v02). Available online at https://www.marineregions.org/. https://doi.org/10.14284/592