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1. This paper presents a summary of the discussions and conclusions of the meetings of the Working Groups that were recommended by the Commission at its Twenty-fifth Session. The following were the major activities carried out during the intersessional period. Other activies were also undertaken at the level of field projects, ADRIAMED and COPEMED, and by the Joint Network under the Aquaculture Committee; these activities will be reported to you directly by the Project Managers.

2. The Coordinators of the Sub-Committees were actively involved in the preparation of SAC Sub-Committee meetings, which took place at FAO Headquarters from 15 to 18 May 2001.

3. The Sub-Committees reviewed the reports of the Working Groups (GFCM:SAC4/2001/Inf.4, Inf.5, Inf.6, Inf.7 and Inf.8) which met during the intersessional period and adopted the recommendations and conclusions that are presented to SAC by the Coordinators of the Sub-Committees under this agenda item. As this paper was prepared prior to the meetings of the Sub-Committees, it was not possible to know the conclusions of these meetings in advance. Instead, the conclusions of the ad hoc Working Groups of the Sub-Committees are summarized below.

4. The Working Group reviewed a paper which emphasized the need for SAC to have identified and well defined socio-economic indicators for the management of the fisheries sector and fisheries communities. The Working Group recognized the usefulness of these indicators in the comparison between economical performances of different national fleets and between operational units in the same country, and in the assessment of the impact of internal and external factor changes on the revenue and economic performances of their fishing fleets.

5. The questionnaire used for the case study in the Alboran Sea by the consultant was adopted after minor changes as a base for other studies. It was suggested that the Working Group prepare, in the light of various experiences, guidelines for the use of the questionnaire.

6. The Group also reviewed a similar study started in the Gulf of Gabes, which used the same methodology with some modifications concerning the fleet segmentation. The final results of the study would be presented during the next meeting of the Group.

7. The extension of the case study to other sub-regions of the GFCM area was discussed and the Group agreed to start with the Western Basin as a first step.

8. The Working Group discussed the use of the indicators in fisheries management and agreed that such indicators would permit the evaluation of the sustainability of the fisheries and in particular, the impact of management on investment, labour demand and geographical fleet distribution.

9. The Working Group recognized the priorities of socio-economic studies and recommended concentrating on the collection of data for the identification of indicators and the analysis of such data for modelling purposes.

10. The meeting was attended by twenty-two scientists from eight member countries. Five technical papers dealing with management unit limits in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean Basin, Adriatic Sea, Tunisian coastal waters, waters surrounding Malta and parts of the Aegean Sea, were discussed.

11. In the light of the different limits proposed, the Working Group recommended dividing the GFCM area into thirty provisional management units. The report of the meeting of the group gave the delimitation of the new units and their correspondence with FAO statistical areas.

12. The meeting was attended by sixteen experts from six member countries. The main subject discussed by the meeting was the reporting forms concerning the effects of various environmental parameters and of fishing gear on the fish resources and ecosystems. The action plan for cartilaginous fish, the case of vulnerable species and the glossary of ecological and fishing gear terms were also brought to the attention of the Working Group and discussed.

13. The meeting reviewed a list of ongoing projects related to fishing and the environment and a list of regional and international conventions of interest to the mandate of the Working Group.

14. The Conclusion of the meeting are summarized as follows:

• Forms on effects of environmental parameters were updated and forms with instructions for completion were prepared.
• Forms on effect of fishing gear were agreed on and a general recommendation will be put forward to SAC calling on Members to collect more information on non-target species, biological communities and other environmental parameters of interest to the Working Group.
• The Working Group took note of the initiatives of some member countries to protect sharks and of the results of the Mediterranean Statistics Project (MEDITS) surveys concerning elasmobranchs and suggested that a field guide for the identification of cartilaginous species be prepared.
• The Working Group agreed to revise the two lists of endangered/threatened species and of species whose exploitation is regulated in the light of each country's specific condition and requirements. The amended lists should be presented for consideration by SAC.
• A draft glossary was discussed and the Working Group agreed that the draft be sent to all participants for comments.

15. The meeting was attended by thirty-five scientists from six countries. Two countries from the southern and eastern Mediterranean were represented (Tunisia and Morocco).

16. Seventeen technical papers were presented for discussion. They were of two types: assessment documents and assessment-related documents. They covered nine species: Solea aegyptica, Diplodus annualaris, Pagellus erythrinus, Merluccius merluccius, Mullus barbatus, Nephrops norvegicus, Lithognatus mormyrus, Aristeus antennaus and Mullus surmuletus.

17. The Working Group recommended management measures for some of these species and proposed further studies for others. The main conclusions and recommendations adopted by the Working Group were the following:

• Priority should be given in the future work of the Group to shared stocks.
• Classic VPA method should be used whenever long data series are available.
• There was a need for setting specific working groups (by species and/or by method) that would meet in parallel with the Working Group itself and proceed with synthetic analyses of the state of some species for which a large amount of information was available.
• The discussion of the effects of various exploitation strategies on the resources, using simulation methodologies was also recommended.

18. The meeting was attended by twenty-three scientists from seven countries. Unfortunately, only one country from the southern Mediterranean was represented (Tunisia).

19. The documents presented at the meeting were of three types: assessment documents, methodology documents and documents not directly related to assessment but covering issues of importance to the assessment work itself. The assessment papers dealt with five small pelagic species: Engraulis encrasicolus, Sardina pilchardus, Sardinella aurita, Trachurus trachurus, and Boops boops.

20. The main conclusions that emerged from the meeting were the following:

• In the future, priority should be given to assessment studies.
• The classic Virtual Population Assessment (VPA) method should be used wherever long data series are available. Direct methods such as the Daily Eggs Production Method (DEPM) and acoustic surveys should also be used.
• Synthetic analysis of the state of small pelagic species, for which a large amount of information is available and which were considered as a priority by GFCM should be carried out.
• Uncertainty on the importance of the existing target species was raised.

21. The following statutory body meetings are being prepared:

• Fourth Session of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) which is being held thanks to the hospitality and financial support of the Greek Government; and
• Twenty-sixth Session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) which will be hosted by the Italian Government on the Island of Ischia from 10 to 13 September 2001. Negotiations with the Italian Authorities are underway and arrangements are being made.

22. The Committee is invited to review in detail the conclusions and the relevant recommendations reflected in the reports of its Sub-Committees and to formulate recommendations for the Commission. The Committee may also wish to provide guidelines and suggestions for the future programme of work.