1. In order to reinforce the work of the Commission, amendments to the agreement and to the internal regulations of GFCM were adopted at the Twenty-second Session of GFCM. Among the amendments adopted was the creation of an autonomous budget. However, an agreement on the modalities for the determination of the budget ceiling and on the scale of contributions between countries could not be reached. In fact, this was discussed at the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Sessions, but a consensus could not be reached and GFCM has been since operating in a transitional way.

2. The proposals presented by the Secretariat and discussed at these Sessions included a clearly identifiable budget for the operation of the Committee on Aquaculture and its associated networks. Contrary to the request for the Scientific Advisory Committee, dealing with capture fisheries, the budget proposed for the Committee on Aquaculture did not involve recruitment of permanent personnel. It was intended that the technical secretariat for the Committee on Aquaculture would be provided by the FAO Fisheries Department as part-time contribution of several professionals at no cost to the Commission. In addition, the organization of the existing operational networks (Information Systems for Promotion of Aquaculture in the Mediterranean (SIPAM), Technology and Aquaculture in the Mediterranean (TECAM) and the Socio-Economic and Legal Aspects of Aquaculture in the Mediterranean (SELAM)) is in place with personnel supporting the programmed activities.

3. The basic activities of the Committee on Aquaculture, which have to be funded regularly, include the following elements:

(a) Regular meeting of the Committee on Aquaculture (one meeting every two years) in four languages. The cost estimate given at the Twenty-fourth Session of GFCM for a four language standard meeting would be US$ 50 000, which could be substantially reduced if interpreters of international standard were available at the hosting country.

(b) SIPAM Network:

(i) one session of the Steering Committee per year. The estimated annual cost for this meeting is US$ 5 000, and involves a two-day meeting; two experts from the region; staff from the regional centre and FAO Headquarters staff in representation of the GFCM Committee on Aquaculture (CAQ);

(ii) one meeting of National Coordinators per year. This involves travel of all the national coordinators to a meeting place for a three-day meeting, accompanied by the staff of the Regional Centre and from FAO Headquarters. According to the experience of previous meetings the estimated cost for the annual National Coordinators meeting would be US$ 25 000 with a full participation of GFCM countries;

(iii) functioning of the Regional Center (which is granted by the Government of Tunisia through an agreement with FAO). The regular contribution paid so far has been Dinars 20 000 per year, and

(iv) temporary assistance by consultants and other personnel to accompany the evolution of the system. It is estimated that this specialist support may be covered with an annual contribution of US$ 10 000.

(c) TECAM and SELAM networks (coordinated by the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in collaboration with FAO Fisheries Department):

(i) it is estimated that the regular functioning of these networks (that incorporate also activities on aquaculture and environment previously under Environmental Aspects of Aquaculture Management in the Mediterranean (EAM)) would consist in holding four to five Seminars or Advanced Courses or Workshops every year, which is seen as the most desirable workload. The individual cost of these meetings according to the experience of previous years, averages US$ 30 000 per seminar or workshop and about US$ 40 000 for a course that requires a longer period. The total cost per year for the activities of these two networks is thus estimated at US$ 140 000. The usual contribution that could be expected from CIHEAM to the activities of the networks it coordinates, should the conditions remain as at present, would be US$ 50 000. This would leave a balance of US$ 90 000 to be covered by the GFCM autonomous budget.

4. All the above would require a regular contribution of US$ 180 000 per year to cover the activities of the GFCM CAQ and associated networks.

SUGGESTED ACTION BY THE COMMITTEE

The Committee is invited to take decisions on the following points:

5. The discussions on the GFCM autonomous budget, also including competition for funds for the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Commission meetings, at previous sessions of the Commission (Twenty-second, Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth GFCM Sessions) have not granted sufficient funds to operate at the levels indicated above. As it is important to be able to promote the sustainable development of this fast-growing sector in the Mediterranean, it is important that the Committee decides on the appropriate levels of operation. Then it should submit a clear recommendation to the Twenty-fifth Session of the GFCM that will meet in Malta in September 2000.

6. Possible savings could be obtained if instead of holding the meetings of the Committee in four languages, only two languages were utilized. The savings can be estimated at about US$ 20 000. Another possibility is to consider a smaller number of meetings of the networks under TECAM and SELAM in the course of the year. Finally, in the case of SIPAM it could be envisaged that the participation of the National Coordinators would be at the expense of the countries themselves, but this decision would probably limit the participation of developing countries and the efficiency of the network.

7. The structure of GFCM in an autonomous phase does not contemplate at present permanent personnel to take care of the coordination of aquaculture activities. All the previous proposals have assumed that part-time assistance could be provided by FAO through a Technical Secretary of the CAQ and through part-time involvement of the specialist at Headquarters. A decision/recommendation by the CAQ on this issue is necessary.

8. Finally, if the next session of GFCM cannot reach an agreement on the budgetary contributions, the CAQ will have to continue to operate in a transitional way. Countries are invited to indicate which are the activities of the proposed programme of work they would be ready to sponsor either entirely or partially.