Élaboration d’une méthode de caractérisation des paysages sous-marins intégrée aux politiques publiques de la mer et des paysages

Against a backdrop of global change and strong pressure on resources, the French authorities are seeking to step up their policies for the preservation of the marine environment. Little is known about the marine environment which benefits from few protection strategies compared to those applied on land. With this in mind, the Regional Council of Brittany, the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing in Brittany (DREAL) and the Iroise Marine Nature Park (PNMI) have addressed the issue of public landscape policies for the marine environment by co-funding a doctoral research project. Based on the Council of Europe Landscape Convention (2000) the aim is to contribute to a methodological exploration to produce an atlas of underwater landscapes in the PNMI area. This article focuses on the phase which involves the characterisation of the underwater landscapes which is to be linked to a subsequent phase for distinguishing the perceptions of the users of this territory. The aim is to enable the authorities to identify these characteristics of the PNMI underwater landscapes, how they are perceived and used, and the social representations relating to them in order to predict the dynamics of change and determine landscape management issues.