Despite the fact that the Belgian part of the North Sea and its adjacent coastal zone are rather small, many human acitivities take place. The Compendium for Coast and Sea aims to outline the policy context and to integrate the scientific knowledge and the socioeconomic data for the different user functions. The knowledge document acts as a reference portal towards detailed information. The source documents are made digitally available in full-text. The different user functions discussed in the Compendium for Coast and Sea are listed below: