In this report the results are presented of a macrobenthos survey on the Dutch Continental Shelf (DCS), carried out in spring 2001. The survey forms part of the 'Biological monitoring programme of marine waters' (MON*BIOLOGIE, generally referred to as 'BIOMON') which was initiated by the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management (RIKZ). The purpose of the programme is to obtain insight into the year-to-year variations of the macrobenthic assemblages and to detect trend-like changes, that possibly indicate anthropogenic influences on the marine environment (e.g. eutrophication, pollution, beam-trawl fishery). Within the framework of this project fieldwork is carried out every year in spring. In 2001 the 100 BIOMON stations were sampled in the period between February 27 and April 4. On the basis of the results collected in 2001 and previous years an analysis is made of the trends and fluctuations of some selected species and of basic community attributes over the period 1986-2001. The community attributes studied were the diversity, abundance and biomass of the total macrofauna and of the 4 major taxonomic groups. Temporal variation or trends were investigated separately for each of the four subareas in the DCS i.e. the Coastal, Offshore areas, Dogger Bank and Oyster Ground.The conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows:1. The sediment composition in the four subareas was quite similar to that found in previous years. Also at most of the individual stations the median grain size and silt content of the sediment had hardly changed. There were only three stations with strong year to year differences in sediment composition. At the stations OFF 2 and OFF 6 the median grain size strongly fluctuated and at station OYS 8 the silt content. lt is suggested that these stations are situated at a sharp local gradient.2. At the community level, there were only a few slight changes compared to preceding years. In the offshore area and in the coastal area there seemed to be a tendency for increased ...