Benthic habitats of the North Sea

The data set provides the geometries of the benthic habitats of the North Sea, which have been the basis for the assessment of the seabed in the context of the status assessment under Articles 8 and 10 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in 2018 (https://www.meeresschutz.info/berichte-art-8-10.html?file=files/meeresschutz/berichte/art8910/zyklus18/Zustandsbericht_Nordsee_2018.pdf). The data set contains the blended Broad Habitat Types (BHT) and Other Habitat Types (OHT). BHTs, referred to as widespread benthic habitats in the 2018 state reports, correspond to benthic biotope classes of EUNIS level 3 in accordance with COM Decision 2017/848. OHTs, referred to as specially protected benthic habitats in the 2018 state reports, correspond to other benthic habitat types in accordance with COM Decision 2017/848. As such, in 2018, Germany included and assessed, inter alia, the two FFH habitat types sandbanks (EU code 1110) and reefs (EU code 1170) in the data sets.