The SAIL partnership is a trans-national effort bordering the Southern North Sea, seeking regeneration of regional economies of Zeeland (NL), West-Flanders (B), Nord Pas de Calais (F), Kent and Essex (U.K.), and the protection and enhancement of its cultural and natural diversity. The EU ICZM Recommendation and Guidelines (May 2002), underline the relevance of indicators to monitor change in the state of the coastal and marine environments, to assess trends in socio-economic pressures and conditions and to appraise the effectiveness of policies in addressing these issues. Based on the Vision Statement of the partnership, and guided by the EU proposal for methodology and indicators to support Member States in preparing their ICZM National Strategies, a suite of 35 indicators for measuring sustainability in the ëSAIL regioní was selected. Policy relevance, measurability, performance, data availability, communicative value and specifically trans-national compatibility, were the main criteria for evaluation and selection of the indicators for each of the seven EU ICZM policy goals. The selection also related to indicators in use for measuring sustainability at a local level, hence reflecting regional priority issues while keeping within a global European strategic framework (Water Framework Directive, Habitat Directive, Maritime Thematic Strategy). The proposal is developed in close cooperation with the EU ICZM Expert Group under guidance of the European Topic Centre. The challenge for the ICZM approach is to integrate and identify causal relations between environmental, socio-economic and governance performance components within a Pressure-State-Response framework. Effects of ICZM must also be monitored against specific baselines and goals. Data capture started during the second half of March 2004. Information will be available for end users through the Internet (databank and mapping interface) both at the level of the SAIL region and for the different sub regions, The first ìState of the Southern North Sea Reportî will be presented in September 2005.