## 3 Results  
### Environmental Variables  
The results of seafloor bathymetry, grain size sediment characterization, and bottom currents velocity in the four studied areas are shown in Table 1. Depth and slope of the seafloor showed higher values in Non-impacted and Low effort history areas than in Medium effort history and High effort areas, while backscatter showed lower values in Non-impacted and Low effort history areas than in Medium effort history and High effort areas. Sediments showed a higher proportion of gravel in Medium effort history and High effort areas than in Non-impacted and Low effort history areas, while the proportion of sand was lower in Medium effort history and High effort areas than in Non-impacted and Low effort history areas. Bottom currents showed similar values of horizontal, vertical and velocity module in Non-impact and Low effort history areas compared to Medium effort history and high effort areas. The MDS results showed that samples of the four compared areas, grouped into samples located in the center part of the Menorca Channel (Non-impacted and Low effort history areas) and samples located in the southern part (Medium effort history and High effort areas), coincided with changes in environmental factors (Figure 3). Samples from Non-impacted and the adjacent Low effort history area showed a lower similarity between \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Variables**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Non-Impact**} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Low Effort** \\ **History** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Medium Effort** \\ **History** \\ \end{tabular} & **High Effort** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{\begin{tabular}{c} Seafloor \\ bathymetry \\ \end{tabular} } & Depth (m) & 70.3 \(\pm\) 2.1 & 70.4 \(\pm\) 2.9 & 59.4 \(\pm\) 2.5 & 58.1 \(\pm\) 2.1 \\  & Slope (\({}^{\circ}\)) & 0.6 \(\pm\) 0.2 & 0.4 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 0.3 \(\pm\) 0.1 & 0.2 \(\pm\) 0.1 \\  & Backscatter (dB) & \(-\)20.8 \(\pm\) 2.7 & \(-\)23.1 \(\pm\) 2.8 & \(-\)18.9 \(\pm\) 2.5 & \(-\)18.9 \(\pm\) 1.8 \\  & Orientation (\({}^{\circ}\)) & 138.1 \(\pm\) 36.6 & 145.0 \(\pm\) 27.8 & 157.2 \(\pm\) 45.7 & 125.9 \(\pm\) 19.2 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{\
\begin{tabular}{c} Sediments \\ \end{tabular} } & Gravel (\%) & 2.3 \(\pm\) 1.9 & 2.8 \(\pm\) 1.6 & 6.4 \(\pm\) 5.0 & 9.9 \(\pm\) 11.2 \\  & Sand (\%) & 97.0 \(\pm\) 2.2 & 96.7 \(\pm\) 1.5 & 92.8 \(\pm\) 5.4 & 89.5 \(\pm\) 11.4 \\  & Mud (\%) & 0.7 \(\pm\) 0.3 & 0.5 \(\pm\) 0.2 & 0.8 \(\pm\) 0.4 & 0.6 \(\pm\) 0.2 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{
\begin{tabular}{c} Bottom currents \\ \end{tabular} } & u (cm/s) & 1.0 \(\pm\) 0.3 & 1.0 \(\pm\) 0.3 & 0.8 \(\pm\) 0.3 & \(-\)0.2 \(\pm\) 0.3 \\  & v (cm/s) & \(-\)2.4 \(\pm\) 0.4 & \(-\)2.4 \(\pm\) 0.6 & \(-\)3.6 \(\pm\) 0.2 & \(-\)2.5 \(\pm\) 0.4 \\  & l v (cm/s) & 3.1 \(\pm\) 0.3 & 3.1 \(\pm\) 0.4 & 3.7 \(\pm\) 0.2 & 2.4 \(\pm\) 0.5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Average values (\(\pm\)standard deviations) of environmental variables estimated on each of the four study areas with different levels of bottom trawl fishing effort at the SCI Menorca Channel (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean). u and v are the horizontal and vertical components of velocity currents, respectively, and l v \(\mid\) is the velocity module. them than samples from Medium effort history and the adjacent High effort area (Figure 3). The environmental factors with a higher Spearman rank correlation with the species composition were depth, slope, backscatter, and the horizontal and vertical velocity components (\(\rho\) = 0.453; Figure 3). Results of previous work in the area suggest that environmental conditions are more relevant than fishing effort in the distribution and composition of the epibenthic communities on the continental shelf of the Menorca Channel [38].