Ecomare

The southern North Sea is shallow and busy. It is the busiest navigated shipping route in the world. Mineral exploitation also occurs on a large scale. The fisheries in the southern North Sea are mostly aimed at catching flatfish. The primary shallows are the Voordelta, the Brown Bank, the Texelse Stenen (Texel Stones), the Cleaverbank, the Oystergrounds and Doggersbank. Furthermore in the southern North Sea lies the Frisian Front, an enormously important area for the seabirds. The coastal zone is also an area that deserves attention. The Dutch part of the North Sea is 57,056 square kilometers. It is approximately one and a half times larger than the land part of the Netherlands.