Data on marine protection levels in Norwegian MPAs: A national application of The MPA guide

This dataset provides the first harmonized and validated classification of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Norwegian waters according to The MPA Guide framework. It represents the first national-scale, local expert-validated application of this framework in Northern Europe, producing a detailed and fine-tuned assessment of protection levels across all Norwegian MPAs. Spatial and regulatory information was compiled from the Norwegian Environment Agency (Miljødirektoratet), Fisheries Directorate (Fiskeridirektoratet), World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), complemented by national legislation and additional spatial layers from EMODnet and other datasets. Each site was assessed across the seven activity categories defined by The MPA Guide Levels of Protection (mining, dredging and dumping, anchoring, infrastructure, fisheries, aquaculture, and non-extractive uses). Fisheries received the most detailed treatment, combining gear-specific regulations, a refined national bathymetric layer, depth-based operability constraints, expert validation and, where relevant, AIS vessel-tracking data (mainly vessels above 15 meters). Regulations on other activities were primarily gathered from sectoral national sources and complemented with EMODnet data. Activity impacts were scored as low, moderate, high, or Incompatible with nature conservation, and each MPA was assigned the lowest resulting Level of Protection (LOP). The final dataset includes 814 MPAs and 53 zones encompassing approximately 88 966 km², corresponding to 4.4% of Norway's marine waters (Territorial Waters and Exclusive Economic Zone). When classified using The MPA Guide, around 91% of the protected area is either Minimally Protected or Incompatible with conservation (≈4% of Norway's marine waters), 9.5% is Lightly Protected (0.4% of Norway's marine waters), while Fully Protected areas represent only 0.1% of the MPA area (0.004% of Norway's marine waters), and no Highly Protected areas were identified. On the mainland, about 99% of MPA area is either Minimally Protected or Incompatible with conservation, 1% is Lightly Protected, and only 0.03% is Fully Protected, whereas in the archipelagos of Svalbard and Jan Mayen, 89% of the MPA area is Minimally Protected or Incompatible with conservation, with most of the remainder classified as Lightly Protected (10.5%), and only 0.1% being Fully Protected. The dataset is released in open format (GeoPackage + Excel table + metadata) and can be directly integrated with EMODnet, WDPA, and MPAtlas repositories. It provides a transparent, reproducible, and scalable reference for assessing marine Levels of Protection, supporting the implementation of strict protection and the Nature Restoration Regulation, as well as regional initiatives under OSPAR and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), including the EU Marine Action Plan that aims to reconcile marine conservation with sustainable fisheries.