This is the first State of the Marine Environment Report (SOMER) for the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME). While it builds on a multitude of environmental studies, impact assessments and scientific reports on the health of the various components of the ecosystem, it also begins a new and standardised process of collecting, collating and publicising key information about the economic and social contributions of the ecosystem, the current and potential future pressures impacting on the BCLME, the state and trends of some key ecosystem health indicators, and past, current and potential future responses to these pressures. It also reflects on the future of the BCLME.