The WIO-Benth Project, funded by WIOMSA’s MASMA programme and managed by the Oceanographic Research Institute, compiled masses of information on soft sediment habitats and their fauna in the western part of the Western Indian Ocean. Information was provided by partner countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar), from ship-based surveys, as well as from remotely-sensed satellites. Regional survey data from the Dr Fridtjof Nansen, a research ship of the EAF Nansen Programme which partnered with WIOMSA for the project, were particularly valuable. The data have been spatially rendered and produced as maps and accompanying text in an atlas titled: “Beneath the Blue – Mapping marine topography and biodiversity of soft sediments of the WIO”. The publication has been prepared in an easily readable style and will be useful for decision-makers, scientists and the public.