Natura 2000 coverage in Europe's seas

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Topics: Biodiversity — Ecosystems

This page was archived on 14 Nov 2018 with reason: Other (New version themes/biodiversity/natura-2000/natura-2000-coverage-in-european-seas-1 was published)

Natura 2000 data refers to information reported by Member States in 2016. Europe's seas are defined by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) marine regions and subregions.

European regional seas and sub regions (sensu MSFD)	EU part of sea (km²)	Area covered by Natura 2000 (km²)	Total no of Natura 2000 sites	% of EU waters covered by Natura 2000	% of 0-1 NM zone covered by Natura 2000	% of 1-12 NM zone covered by Natura 2000	% of 12 NM to END zone covered by Natura 2000
Baltic Sea	368720	56039	856	15.2	32	16	9
North East Atlantic Ocean (NEAO)	4082719	290172	1082	7.1	54	28	4
Celtic Seas	930900	70127	443	7.5	51	24	3
Greater North Sea, incl. the Kattegat and the English Channel	491305	114122	381	23.2	60	34	19
Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast	803350	78685	201	9.8	60	34	7
Macaronesia	1857164	27238	69	1.5	31	19	1
Mediterranean	1274892	62941	1169	4.9	31	11	1
Western Mediterranean Sea	659989	44926	524	6.8	53	20	1
Ionian Sea and the Central Mediterranean Sea	240068	6667	155	2.8	29	6	1
Adriatic Sea	120069	6531	361	5.4	37	5	0
Aegean-Levantine Sea	190382	4818	137	2.5	14	2	0
Black Sea	64384	9156	44	14.2	84	51	6
Total	5790715	418308	3149⁽¹⁾	7.2	40	19	4

(¹) The total number of site polygons is lower than the sum of sites at regional/subregional level, because some sites span across different regions or subregions.

NM = nautical miles

The methodology and the procedure used for selecting the marine Natura 2000 sites from the 2016 tabular and spatial data are those illustrated in the EEA report 'Spatial analysis of marine protected area networks in Europe's seas' (2015).

Natura 2000 sites located outside the MSFD marine regions and subregions are not considered.

The table was produced by European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters, ETC/ICM.

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