In the Eastern English Channel, an important area for small fisheries with strong hydrodynamic features, IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) carries out since 1988 an essential ground fish survey enabling ICES to produce annual evaluations of major commercial fish stocks. It is therefore possible to identify and describe the existing communities and to analyse their distribution patterns in disturbed areas supporting important fishery exploitation. During this autumn survey, biological data are collected on all demersal, benthic and pelagic species captured and environmental conditions are also recorded. It was therefore possible to identify and describe the existing communities observed from 1988 to 2003 in the Eastern Channel and to relate them with physical and hydrological features. Multivariate (canonical analyses) and spatial analyses (geostatistical analyses) were used to explore and illustrate the community composition, diversity and spatial structure based on 90 observed species and 1326 haul trawls and revealed their relationships with the environment and their evolution through time. Four sub-communities could be identified with varying diversity levels. The sampling depth, salinity, temperature and the sediment nature were all significantly correlated to the community structure. The study also revealed significant inter-annual community variations but no clear shift in its composition could be distinguished over time with the exception of a few species in particular Striped red mullet (Mullus surmuletus). This species exhibited a significant abundance increase since the late 1990’s and this result may confirm recent fishery observations relating marked increases in this species catch. The diversity levels of the community seemed to have increased over the last decade and to be favoured in area with soft sediment type with important temperature and salinity variations, typically, coastal river plumes and estuaries.