Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: Benthic habitats (WMS)

The WMS Map Service provides the geometries of the benthic habitats for the North and Baltic Seas, which have been the basis for the assessment of the seabed in the context of the state assessment under Articles 8 and 10 Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSRL,) in 2018 (https://www.meeresschutz.info/berichte-art-8-10.html?file=files/meeresschutz/berichte/art8910/zyklus18/Zustandsbericht_Nordsee_2018.pdf ; https://www.meeresschutz.info/berichte-art-8-10.html?file=files/meeresschutz/berichte/art8910/zyklus18/Zustandsbericht_Ostsee_2018.pdf). The two data sets available separately for the North and Baltic Seas contain the combined Broad Habitat Types (BHT) and Other Habitat Types (OHT). BHTs, referred to as widespread benthic habitats in the 2018 status reports, correspond to benthic biotope classes of EUNIS level 3 according to Commission Decision 2017/848 OHTS, referred to as specially protected benthic habitats in the 2018 status reports, correspond to other benthic habitat types in accordance with Commission Decision 2017/848. As such, in 2018, Germany included and evaluated the two FFH habitat types sandbanks (EU code 1110) and reefs (EU code 1170) in the data sets.