| Summary: | International audience In the framework of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and for the first time, a census and analysis of the available metadata on zooplankton along the French coasts have been conducted (for both long term time series and short term oceanographic cruises). This study provided a comprehensive examination of zooplankton within the French metropolitan coastal system, i.e., the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.The investigation revealed a wide disparity in the spatial distribution of studies highlighting some well sampled areas as well as other regions quite unexplored. In addition, this approach also exposed the heterogeneity in zooplankton sampling methods and taxonomic determination levels. The wide variety of sampling methods defined the whole zooplankton community, from the smallest fauna (such as crustacean nauplii) to the largest (such as euphausiids) to the most delicate (gelatinous forms). Unfortunately, the possibilities for cross analysis of Zooplankton meta data census 12 the different data are limited. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the data available for meta analysis (in term of sampling method and taxonomic determination). In order to understand current and future environmental fluctuations (climate change, ocean acidification, anthropogenic pollution and persistent overfishing), it is essential to identify and analyze all the biological data collected in the different French marine areas. This indispensable first step is crucial for defining the environmental status of marine waters.The nexus of our results provides recommendations for a standardization of procedures to be followed in subsequent studies of zooplankton, specifically sampling strategies, sampling methods and taxonomic determinations
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