This report details the collaborative effort between partners from Europe and China to deliver the first broad-scale habitat map for a Chinese sea basin, using the EUNIS (European Nature Information System) approach, as part of Task 4.1 of the joint EMOD-PACE/CEMDNET project.
Broad-scale habitat models can be useful in data poor regions and, provide a full spatial coverage dataset on the distribution of habitat types, for very large areas (basin wide, national water, European waters) for application such as marine spatial planning or marine protected sites network assessments. EUNIS (European Nature Information System) broad-scale habitat map provide a first general picture of the variety and general types of physical habitats at the seabed and should be based on good understanding of key physical variables that drive the distribution of characteristics benthic communities.
The present report introduces the first broad-scale habitat map in an Asian sea basin, based on the EMODnet habitat mapping approach, and associated confidence datasets. The case study site selected for this work covers part of the Beibu Gulf, located in the north-western parts of the South China Sea. We include a summary of the methodology used, as well as a presentation the habitat map, its input layers and associated confidence assessments. Furthermore, we discuss limitations of the approach, applicability to Chinese sea basins and propose the next steps to improve in this work.