COMARGE Workshop: Habitat Classification and Mapping on Deep Continental Margins, 4-6 June 2007

Under the auspices of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) field programme Continental Margin Ecosystems on a Worldwide Scale (COMARGE), a workshop was held in Southampton, U.K., on 4-6 June, 2007, to examine habitat mapping on continental margins. This was attended by 22 scientists, including geophysicists, geologists and biologists. Oral presentations were given on data sets from a range of areas: the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, West Africa, NW Europe, the Arabian Sea, Japan and Mexico. A number of more theoretical talks were also presented, and a habitat mapping exercise was carried out. On the final day, a “brainstorming” session was carried out to produce a list of what the participants considered to be “Habitats” on continental margins, together with a list of factors which influence these features to create habitats.