An ecological assessment of European marine biotopes: building tools for ecosystem-based marine spatial management

Ecosystem-based marine spatial management (EB-MSM) aims to supply a generic framework and a set of strategic tools for a sustainable marine and coastal development. Identifying and assessing the importance of the numerous distinct marine ecosystem units (hereafter biotopes) along with their related benefits and conservation issues is an essential first step to this end. Herein, 56 types of European seabed biotopes and their related goods, services, sensitivity issues, and conservation status (at European and international level) were compiled. Destructive fishing (particularly trawling) and marine pollution were recognized as the main threats to European seabed biotopes. Moreover, increased seawater turbidity, dredging and aggregate extraction, sediment disposal, coastal constructions, biological invasions, mining, shipping-related activities, tourism, hydrocarbon exploitation, and even some practices of scientific research, also exert substantial pressure. Although significant effort has been put into the protection of European seabeds through international agreements as well as European and national legislation, a finer scale of classification and assessment of marine biotopes is crucial in shaping priorities and management guidelines towards the sustainability of European marine resources.