A plethora of methods to monitor shallow sublittoral benthic habitats and communities are available to the marine researcher today. The most widely used methods are reviewed and evaluated, with reference to the spatial scale at which they operate. For ease of comparison, methods are categorised as operating over broad (>1km), meso (10m–1km) and fine scales (<10m). A measure of efficiency and data resolution are provided by exploring the range of sampling techniques and strategies at each of these spatial scales. Recommendations are made regarding which methods are most effective at each scale: light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and multibeam sonar over broad scales; sidescan sonar, drop-down cameras, towed cameras and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) over meso scales; and grab samplers, sediment corers for soft, unconsolidated sediments and photoquadrats, and video transects for hard, consolidated sediments at fine scales. Emphasis is placed on the development of standardised methodologies for sampling each scale within a nested design, for the monitoring programmes of the future.