Detecting adverse effect on seabed integrity. Part 1: Generic sensitivity indices to measure the effect of trawling on benthic mega-epifauna

•15 indices were investigated in contrasted regions: taxonomic diversity metrics, functional diversity indices and functional sensitivity indices.•Their capacity to detect trawling effect, their statistical behavior or their ability to inform on community structure, were investigated.•Fours indices specific to fishery effect detection based on biological traits appeared to be the best performing benthic indices.•Maps of the distribution pattern of seabed sensitivity were produced.