The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Project (FRDC) No. 2001/060 characterised and identified the distribution of the different benthic habitats of the Recherche Archipelago and identified the distribution of assemblages of fish, mobile invertebrates, filter feeding communities and seagrasses and the patterns and processes which structure them. Benthic habitat were determined from the interpretation of Landsat imagery, sidescan sonar imagery and video validation data collected within the Recherche region from May 2002 to November 2003.