Since March 2013 the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN) is an official Project of the International Oceanographic Data & Information Exchange (IODE) programme of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). This workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss how coastal web atlases (CWA) can assist in implementing ecosystem based management approaches. This is particularly pertinent as the African continent is surrounded by five Large Marine Ecosystems (the Agulhas and Somali Current, The Benguela Current, the Canary Current, the Mediterranean Current, the Guinea Current) all requiring sustainable management and protection. As this is the first time the workshop is being held in Africa, it is a great opportunity to hear about developments from the ODINAFRICA Coastal and Marine Atlas community. Key activities at the ICAN-7 workshop will include: - exploring the opportunities for CWAs to address the objectives of managing and protecting LMEs; - discussing the challenges of Atlas development and usage in the African Coastal Atlas community; - sharing knowledge and experience on approaches to data licencing and data sharing in order to make data holdings more visible; - a session on “interoperability for dummies” which aims to demystify coastal atlas interoperability and highlight the benefits; - a small “workshop within a workshop” for atlas technical developers on how to become a new node in the ICAN interoperability demonstrator, using the updated cookbooks; - a small \"workshop within a workshop\" on engaging your atlas user community, including a progress update on the user handbook; - development of an ICAN work plan for the period 2015-2017. - Face-to-face meeting of the ICAN Steering Group