This section presents the assessments reported to the European Commission by EU Member States under different legal instruments that contribute to the protection of Europe’s seas, namely the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Habitats Directive, Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Bathing Water Directive (BWQ). Therefore it displays an overview of the status of the coastal and marine environment by country.

The data sources used are as follows:

  • Map: marine waters’ spatial files reported by countries under the MSFD.
  • Marine waters area: calculation of geometry of marine waters’ spatial files, split by marine (sub)region.
  • Marine waters per country: it displays the % of marine waters’ area out of the sum of marine waters’ and land areas. The land area used has been extracted from the calculation of geometry of the dataset ‘Countries 2020, scale 1:100.000 (GISCO)’.
  • Marine waters per capita: It displays the area (in hectares) of marine waters by inhabitant in the country. The population used is from Eurostat (2019).
  • Competent Authorities: competent authorities for the implementation of the MSFD at the national level, as last reported under the MSFD.
  • Status of the marine environment - “State” Descriptors: overall status of the different features assessed by "State" Descriptor under the MSFD, as reported under the 2018 reporting exercise.
  • Status of the marine environment - “Pressure” Descriptors: overall status of the different features assessed by "Pressure" Descriptor under the MSFD, as reported under the 2018 reporting exercise.
  • Status of marine species and habitats: conservation status of the marine species and habitats assessed under the Habitats Directive, as reported under the 2013-2018 reporting exercise. 
  • Ecological status of transitional, coastal and territorial waters: assessments included in the first and second River Basin Management Plans and reported under the WFD under the 2010 and 2016 reporting exercises respectively.
  • Chemical status of transitional, coastal and territorial waters: assessments included in the first and second River Basin Management Plans and reported under the WFD under the 2010 and 2016 reporting exercises respectively.
  • Status of bathing water quality  in transitional and coastal sites: data reported under the Bathing Water Directive from 1990-2021.