Megabenthic communities on the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea are among the most studied in the world. These communities, rich in sessile arborescent taxa, form animal forests with complex three-dimensional structures that are subjected to the impact of fishing. Bottom contact gears, long-lines, gills and trammel nets entangling, results in organism removal or damage. Here, we characterized megabenthic communities on the Northern Catalonian middle continental shelf and evaluated the impacts caused by fishing, particularly in gorgonian assemblages. Four animal forests were described based on their community composition, depth and substrate type. Animal forests with higher spatial heterogeneity supported greater biodiversity. Moreover, fishing was demonstrated to impact the benthic community structure, while impacts on species richness, evenness and biodiversity differed in each site. The presence of gorgonian assemblages depended on fishing restrictions and the presence of hard and mixed substrates. The time since the establishment of the MPAs was insufficient to observe signs of recovery. We estimated that 30.8% of the gorgonians in the study area will present epibionts or necrosis with the size of the fishing fleet, marine litter, depth and substrate type as the main drivers of these impacts. However, effective MPA co-management enhances the ecological status of the studied communities.
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