Résumé
A remote sensing survey of the marine benthic communities was conducted along the whole coastal zone of Martinique (French West Indies). A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to locate and assess the health status of the marine habitats. Several techniques (visual and acoustic) were combined to produce the final maps. Benthic communities in shallow waters (0-7 m) were identified visually from aerial photographs (IGN 2004 campaign) and ground-trusted. Habitat health status was assessed based on hypersedimentation, macroalgae and coral necrosis levels. The sublittoral zone (7-30m) was surveyed using Acoustic Ground Discrimination System (RoxAnn) and interferometric swath bathymetric system. The relatively high resolution of the swath system provided information on bedform features and major seabed sediment categories as well as a detailed bathymetry. A drop-down video camera was used to check the biology and physical characteristics of the seafloor. Six community types were identified: coral community, seagrass, mixed community (assemblage of coral, sponges and gorgonians with seagrass beds), soft bottom community, sponge and gorgonian community, and algal community. The final maps show significant differences in the distribution of habitats and communities between the Caribbean and the Atlantic sides. The Atlantic coast has an outer spur and groove reef and inner lagoon system which extend about 4kms away from the land. The Caribbean coast has sporadic fringing reefs amongst sandy sediment habitats. The largest reef is located in the south. Community health appears largely degraded all around the island, especially in large bays and downstream of river mouths, where anthropogenic impacts are more important. The amount of numeric data collected and the marine GIS developed are valuable resources for managers and policy makers for the coastal zone preservation of Martinique