Many Category IV protected areas will need regular, active interventions to address the requirements of particular species or to maintain habitats, but this is not a requirement of the category. They are generally large, with most of the area in a natural condition, where a proportion is under sustainable natural resource management and where low-level non-industrial use of natural resources compatible with nature conservation is seen as one of the main aims of the area. This paper uses a global database of EEZs maintained by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) which attempts to record current EEZs according to the convention and subsequent decisions.