Bilan des connaissances sur les récifs du bathyal et évaluation de l’état de conservation de l’habitat d’intérêt communautaire Récifs dans les eaux françaises hexagonales

The Habitats Directive (92/43/CEE) is one of the political pillars of the European Union in terms of marine biodiversity. Under the directive, each Member State must report periodically the conservation status and evolution trends of species and habitats of Community interest. This conservation status of habitats is characterised by four parameters: habitat range, habitat area, habitat structure and functions, and future prospects according to the pressures acting on the habitat and the management measures put in place. In previous reports, the assessment of the 1170-Reefs habitat considered only partially the geological and biogenic reefs of the deep sea (bathyal). To overcome such a knowledge gap, a scientific review was carried out according to the four evaluation parameters in order to advance an overall assessment of the bathyal Reefs for the French Atlantic and Mediterranean marine biogeographical regions. The overall assessment of the conservation status of bathyal Reefs is « unfavourable-inadequate » in the Atlantic and « unfavourable-bad » in the Mediterranean. Although management measures are in place or planned, they are not sufficient to ensure a favourable conservation status for the bathyal Reefs in the long term.