This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA5) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The purpose of this report is to present an up-to-date synthesis of current information on the benthic environment and the benthic communities and associations in the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) region 5 and, additionally, to highlight areas considered to be particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic influences. The synthesis has been prepared from the information available on seabed habitats, species and communities to the east of Orkney and Shetland and extending down the east coast of Scotland. The area includes the major east coast features, the Moray Firth, the Firth of Forth, and the Tay estuary, and the inner Firths of Dornoch, Cromarty and Inverness, the Ythan Estuary and the Montrose basin.