Current Situation and Future Trend of Marine Habitat Mapping

Marine habitat mapping (MHM) aims to create a comprehensive spatiotemporal representation of marine biological habitats, providing insights into biological communities, ecological conditions, and physical characteristics. Accurate and extensive MHM is crucial for supporting various marine policies and strategic objectives, including the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems and the expansion of sustainable blue economy activities. However, vast areas of the global seabed remain unexplored, and current MHM research primarily focuses on physical features, lacking sufficient biological information such as species and communities. Future efforts require higher-resolution MHM to support decision-making for achieving ecosystem-based sustainable marine development and utilization. This will enable refined assessment of human activities' impacts on marine resources and ecosystem services, as well as identification and planning of new marine protected area networks. These advancements will contribute to China's “One Map” initiative for natural resource management and the development of a maritime power.