This status depends on the specific composition of habitats, their evolutionary dynamics, their surface area, their sensitivity to pressures, but also the effectiveness of the ecological functions they provide for the balance of the entire marine environment. The assessment of the conservation status of marine habitats, carried out by the UMS PatriNat (MNHN-OFB), is based on a proven scientific method, shared with other European States, and involving most national specialists in the study of benthic communities.

Marine habitats are critical to our health, quality of life, and economic sustainability. Accurately identifying the services provided by habitats and anticipating how they will be affected by changing activities will provide a basis to support the implementation of effective protection measures. This information will also be important in generating a collective commitment to marine habitats.

Habitats do not need to be managed globally, but the uses and pressures on them do. To do this, Marha uses already established methods to identify and classify the different pressures identified on marine habitats, to characterize the sensitivity of the habitats to these different pressures, and then to evaluate these pressures through local studies to quantify the uses. This work makes it possible to identify the sectors in which the accumulation of pressures is greater than the tolerance of natural habitats and to impose measures to reduce the pressures.