PROGRAMME OF WORK FOR THE INTERSESSIONAL PERIOD 2004

70. The Secretariat presented a summary of the Programme of work prepared by SAC on the basis of documents GFCM/XXVIII/2003/6 and GFCM/XXVIII/2003/Inf.5. Reference was also made to rescheduling some activities of CAQ and considering including new ones.

71. At the invitation of the Chairperson of GFCM, the newly elected Chairperson of SAC briefly presented some suggestions to enhance the planning of the activities of SAC subsidiaries and to facilitate increased participation from scientists. He suggested in particular to include the outgoing Chair of the Committee as a member of the SAC Coordinating Meeting of the Sub-committees and to use this subsidiary to promote the formulation of multidisciplinary advice to be presented to SAC. He further suggested that selected scientific contributions emanating from the work of the Sub-committees be systematically reviewed and published when relevant in the GFCM Studies and Reviews series. He also emphasized the proposals from the CopeMed Forum which were formulated after the sixth session of the Committee, particularly the need to enable the involvement of private scientists related to the fishing industry in the work of SAC.

72. Referring to the Reference framework for the mandate of SAC for 2003-2004 as approved at the Twenty-seventh session, the delegates from the E.C, France, Greece, Italy and Spain suggested the following priorities in the implementation of the Programme of work of SAC for the intersession:

- assessments of stocks in those GSAs not yet covered by the 2002 and 2003 assessments;
- activities related to biological reference points;
- identification of nursery areas and sensitive habitats;
- overview of driftnet and surface gillnet fisheries broken down by main basin and by GSAs.

73. The Commission endorsed the proposed programme of work of SAC and its Sub-Committees.

74. The Commission also welcomed the following offers made by:

- the delegate of the EC to finance an Extraordinary Session of the Commission to be held after the entry into force of the amendments relative to the autonomous budget;

- the delegate from Egypt to host and finance the Fourth Session of CAQ although with the provision of using local interpretation;

- the delegate from Morocco to host and finance the Seventh Session of SAC although with the provision of using local interpretation;

- the delegate from Spain to host the meeting of the Working Groups respectively on demersal and on small pelagic species, as well as the session of the four Sub-Committees and their Coordinating Meeting, with support from CopeMed;

- the delegate from Italy to host and finance the Workshop on Biological Reference Points as well as the Third Joint GFCM/ICCAT ad hoc Working Group on Sustainable Tuna Farming which will be open to selected representatives from the industry;

- The delegate from Tunisia to host the SELAM seminar on "Aquaculture Legislation in Mediterranean countries", assuming some support from CIHEAM.

75. In addition, CopeMed confirmed its interest to organize an ad hoc Expert Group on Operational Units Case study while AdriaMed confirmed the holding of the Workshop on interaction between capture fisheries and aquaculture in Rome, Italy, early November 2003.

76. The Observer from ICCAT reiterated the importance for his Organization of strengthened cooperation with GFCM. He referred to a SRCS recommendation to the ICCAT Plenary Session of November 2003, that the Eighth Session of the Joint ad hoc GFCM/ICCAT Working group on Large Pelagics be held in 2004. The Commission welcomed this proposal and requested the Secretariat to liaise with ICCAT for determining the date and venue of that meeting.

77. The Commission agreed that the external evaluation of SIPAM referred to in paragraph 43 should be merged into an overall appraisal of the achievements of CAQ, including its SELAM and TECAM Networks.

78. The Regional Coordinator of SIPAM informed the Commission that this network might need some financial support to ensure participation of members in the meetings and activities of its Steering Committee and of its Annual Meeting in 2004.

79. The Commission endorsed the following meetings in support of the Programme of work of SAC and CAQ: