The datasets on fishing intensity in the EU waters were created in 2020 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). It is the result of the elaboration of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) data on: i) Spatial distribution of average annual fishing effort (mW fishing hours) in the Greater North Sea and Baltic Sea during 2015-2018, by gear type (Beam trawls, Bottom otter trawls, Bottom seines, Dredges, Pelagic trawls and seines, Static gears). Fishing effort data are only shown for vessels >12 m having vessel monitoring systems (VMS); ii) Average annual subsurface (top) and surface (bottom) disturbance by mobile bottom contacting fishing gear (bottom otter trawls, bottom seines, dredges, beam trawls) in the Greater North Sea and Baltic Sea during 2015-2018, expressed as average swept-area ratios (SAR). Due to data confidentiality issues, VMS/logbook data are anonymized and aggregated in a 0.05x0.05 degree grid prior to submission to ICES, using the C-square geocode system (polygons). The dataset is updated yearly and as soon as new data from ICES are released.