The data set is showing areas where estuaries occurs in the Baltic Sea area as points used for the BRISK project (Sub-regional risk of spill of oil and hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea, http://www.brisk.helcom.fi/). This dataset has been produced by COWI (http://www.cowi.dk) based on data collected from Finland (Copyright: SYKE). The dataset includes data provided by the BRISK Project Partner organisations from various Baltic Sea countries. The detailed documentation of what partner provided what data is given in the Annex of the document: 70618-3.1.2.2 Data Collection Report. Estuaries have a high biodiversity. They are important breeding and foraging areas for many birds and reproduction areas for many fish species. Stranded oil may degrade slowly and the risk for damage to the habitat is high during clean up actions. The organisms encountered in the habitat are generally very vulnerable to oil.