## 3 Results  
The total area (km\({}^{2}\)) for each benthic habitat class within the shallow marine zone (<30 m depth) of the Insular Caribbean and corresponding area and percentage within declared marine protected or managed areas can be found in Table 4. A custom Lambert equal area projection centered on the Caribbean was used to calculate the area of each benthic habitat class. Seagrass (dense and sparse) has the greatest area coverage in the region (88, 170 km\({}^{2}\)), followed by sand (74,274 km\({}^{2}\)), hardbottom (dense and sparse algae) (29,869 km\({}^{2}\)), and coral (all classes) (10,373 km\({}^{2}\)). Of the coral subclasses, the coral/algae class has the greatest area coverage (9075 km\({}^{2}\)), followed by spur and groove reef (667 km\({}^{2}\)), fore reef (295 km\({}^{2}\)), back reef (265 km\({}^{2}\)), and finally reef crest (70 km\({}^{2}\)). Based on the 203,676 km\({}^{2}\) of shallow marine habitat mapped, 5% is coral reef, 43% seagrass, 15% hardbottom, and 37% other benthic habitats. When considering percentage of each habitat class within the current declared marine protected or managed areas from The Nature Conservancy's database, 20% of coral, 13% of seagrass, 22% of hardbottom, and 15% other benthic classes exist within marine protected or managed boundaries. Area totals for coral, seagrass, hardbottom, and other benthic habitat classes within each jurisdiction's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundary (based on the 2018 VLIZ layer [60]) and corresponding percentage within marine protected or managed areas are listed in Tables 5-8. When interpreting the tables, it is important to recognize that the marine protected or managed area database used in the analysis includes all types of legally declared marine protected or managed areas collected by The Nature Conservancy's Caribbean Division (updated as of May 2021), regardless of management objective or level of protection or enforcement. For example, the Agoa Sanctuary is a marine managed area under French sovereignty declared in 2010, with the specific objective to improve the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Benthic Habitat Class** & **Total Area (km\({}^{2}\))** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Within** \\ **Protected/Managed** \\ **Area (km\({}^{2}\))** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline \multirow{7}{*}{Coral Reefs} & Reef Crest & 70.23 & 23.86 (34\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Fore Reef & 295.27 & 102.93 (35\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Back Reef & 265.18 & 103.35 (39\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Coral/Algae & 9075.27 & 1662.10 (18\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Spur and Groove Reef & 666.88 & 146.66 (22\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Total Coral** & **10,372.82 (5\%)** & **2038.89 (20\%)** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Seagrass} & Dense seagrass & 24,673.02 & 3593.69 (15\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Sparse Seagrass & 63,497.27 & 7853.34 (12\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Total Seagrass** & **88,170.29 (43\%)** & **11,447.03 (13\%)** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Hardbottom} & Hardbottom Dense Algae & 13,670.71 & 3222.88 (24\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Hardbottom Sparse Algae & 16,198.26 & 3436.14 (21\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & **Total Hardbottom** & **29,868.97 (15\%)** & **6659.02 (22\%)** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Other} & Sand & 74,273.75 & 10,807.40 (15\%) \\ \cline{2-4}  & Muddy Bottom & 930.90 & 353.85 (38\%) \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-4}  & Boulders and Rocks & 13.06 & 0.99 (8\%) \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-4}  & Dredged & 46.43 & 4.53 (10\%) \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{2-4}  & **Total Other** & **75,264.13 (37\%)** & **11,116.78 (15\%)** \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Total area (km\({}^{2}\)) for each benthic habitat class within the shallow marine zone (<30 m depth) of the Insular Caribbean and corresponding area and percentage within declared marine protected or managed areas. management and protection of marine mammals. Since this management declaration is across all French EEZ jurisdictions, the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, and Saint Barthelemy have 100% management status of all benthic habitats.