The regional seas in the 21st century: the need for data

This paper is meant as introducing A Regional Seas Dossier by giving a view of how the data bank, which the Dossier was based on, was designed and operated. The breakdown on the regional sea management is concerns 149 States of the existing 156 independent States, and 45 no sovereign territories. It is based on a spectrum of national data, including: (i) the extent of the coastal, island and archipelagic State, and that of the non independent spaces; (ii) the population; (iii) the coast length; (iv) the extent of the exclusive economic zone ; (v) the land coastline pressure indicator; and (vi) the coastal human pressure indicator. It consists in tables, maps, and diagrams. First, the methodological features are concisely discussed, then the individual components of the Dossier are presented, and finally the need to implement the information systems on the regional seas, and on the regional scale of ocean management, is emphasised.