Mapping of deep marine habitats in the Bay of Biscay.

The mapping of the deep marine habitats of the Bay of Biscay was carried out by the Ifremer Environment Laboratory as part of the Coralfish project and an agreement between Ifremer and the Agency for Marine Protected Areas. The method used for this habitat mapping is based on the prior counting of videos and images acquired through the Victor 6000 ROV and the SCAMPI towed camera as part of several oceanographic campaigns: BOBGEO1 (from 14/10/2009 to 28/10/2009, Head of Mission: Jean-François Bourillet), EVHOE 2009 (from 18/10/2009 to 01/12/2009, Heads of Mission: Jean-Pierre LEAUTE and Michèle SALAUN), BOBGEO2 (from 18/07/2010 to 25/07/2010, Head of Mission: Jean-François Bourillet, Ifremer Brest), EVHOE 2010 (from 18/10/2010 to 02/12/2010, Heads of Mission: Jean-Pierre LEAUTE and Michèle SALAUN), BOBECO (from 9/09/2011 to 11/10/2011, Heads of Mission: Sophie ARNAUD-Haond and Anthony Grehan) and EVHOE 2012 (from 18/10/2012 to 02/12/2012, Heads of Mission: Jean-Pierre LEAUTE and Michèle SALAUN). The habitats observed were defined according to the Coralfish typology (Davies et al. 2017) and demarcated on the basis of observations made on images and video profiles. As part of this mapping, it was decided to retain only habitats with an area of at least 25 m², i.e. segments of at least 5 metres long, defined by at least 2 identical observations adjacent. Then, with the Coralfish Level 3 habitats, national typology habitats (HABREF, Michez et al. 2019) and international typology habitats, in particular Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME, ICES 2020), reef habitat ‘1170’ within the meaning of the EU Habitat Faune Flore Directive, and the OSPAR list of threatened and/or declining species and habitats were associated. References: Davies, J.S., Guillaumont, B., Tempera, F., Vertino, A., Beuck, L., Ólafsdóttir, S.H., Smith, C.J., Fosså, J.H., van den Beld, I.M.J., Savini, A., Rengstorf, A., Bayle, C., Bourillet, J.F., Arnaud-Haond, S., Grehan, A., 2017. A new classification scheme of European cold-water coral habitats: Implications for ecosystem-based management of the deep sea. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 145: 102-109, 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.04.014. MICHEZ, N., Thiébaut, E., Dubois, S., Le Gall, L., Dauvin, J.C., Andersen, A.C., Baffreau, A., Bajjouk, T., Blanchet, H., de Bettinies, T., De Casamajor, M.-N., Derrien-Courtel, S., Houbin, C., Janson, A.-L., La Rivière, M., Lévèque, L., Menot, L., Sauriau, P.-G., Simon, N., Viard, F., 2019. Typology of benthic marine habitats in the Channel, North Sea and Atlantic. VERSION 3. ICES, 2020. ICES/NAFO Joint Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC). ICES Scientific Reports 2 (62), 171, 10.17895/ices.pub.7503.