MedPAN

1. On the occasion of its thirty-seventh annual session (May 2013, Split, Croatia), the General Fisheries Commission in the Mediterranean (GFCM) took innovative steps in the management of fisheries through the establishment of marine protected areas. Can you tell us more about this?

The GFCM has been a pioneer in the protection of deep sea habitats. In 2005, it prohibited the use of towed dredges and trawl nets fisheries at depths beyond 1 000 metres. 

In 2006, a GFCM recommendation was adopted against the use of towed dredges and bottom trawl nets in three areas: off Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy (deep sea corals), in the Nile delta area, Egypt (cold hydrocarbon seeps) and off the Eratosthenes Seamount, Cyprus. 

In 2009, another recommendation established a fisheries restricted area (FRA) to protect spawning aggregations and deep sea sensitive habitats in the Gulf of Lions. This recommendation froze, for demersal stocks, the fishing effort of vessels using towed nets, bottom and mid-water longlines, and bottom-set nets at the level of the fishing effort applied in 2008.

Recently, the GFCM Resolution GFCM37/2013/1 on area-based management of fisheries, including through the establishment of Fisheries Restricted Areas (FRAs) in the GFCM convention area and coordination with the UNEP-MAP initiatives on the establishment of SPAMIs was adopted in light of the recent memorandum of understanding signed FAO/GFCM and UNEP-Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) with a view to promoting cooperation between both organisations. Such cooperation should namely address the harmonisation of existing criteria to identify FRAs and SPAMIs when their location coincide, in particular if located totally or partially in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). This resolution indicates GFCM as the competent authority to establish fisheries restrictions of any kind should they fall (partially or totally) within SPAMIs, in particular in the High Seas.

2. The Commission agreed to create a Transversal Working Group on Marine Protected Areas. What will be the tasks of this working group?

Over the last years, the establishment of marine protected areas and new fisheries restricted areas has raised a lot of interest. After the last annual meeting of the GFCM Subcommittee on Marine Environment (SCMEE) in 2013, the GFCM has decided to devote to this important matter a dedicated forum where regional experts and organisations (such as Oceana, WWF, UNEP-MAP/RAC-SPA) could discuss and develop proposals for the protection of new areas, including through the adoption by the GFCM of fisheries restriction measures. 

The main aim of this transversal working group is to strengthen synergies with other partner organisations, such as UNEP MAP and MedPAN, operating in the Mediterranean in the field of marine protected areas (MPAs), with a view to harmonising criteria for the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs, SPAMIs) and FRAs, reviewing the status of existing MPAs (including FRAs) and identifying potential new marine protected areas especially in the High Seas.

This working group is expected to meet for the first time in Marseille in October 2013, on the occasion of the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3). 

3. The GFCM is organising the first Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (27–30 November 2013, St. Julian’s, Malta) . What are the main issues and objectives of this symposium? 

At the last session of the GFCM, it was agreed to hold a first meeting dedicated to small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Given the importance of this sector for food security, economic growth, rural development and employment in the region, there is a strong interest in securing its sustainable development and obtaining more information on its production volumes, socio-economic dimensions as well as on its contribution to sustainable development and to the preservation of marine ecosystems.

Recently, the FAO has launched a consultative process to develop voluntary International Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries. In line with this approach, the GFCM intends to build at the regional level a platform aimed at defining strategic and programmatic actions with a view to improving the livelihood of Mediterranean local communities. 

This first regional symposium will be organised by the GFCM together with the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and the Regional Projects, WWF, MedPAN and CIHEAM.

Its main objectives are: 

• to renew and foster political commitment towards small-scale fisheries 
• to agree upon a possible roadmap for the gradual implementation of tasks in support to the sustainable development of small-scale fisheries
• to discuss the establishment of a regional cooperation project on small-scale fisheries
• to lay the foundations for a platform where stakeholders could be directly involved and participate in the management of small-scale fisheries

Discussions will be organised around five main themes: 

• Current situation of small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea: strategies and methodologies for an effective analysis of the sector 
• Management and co-management options for small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea 
• Integration of small-scale fisheries in MPAs 
• Enhancing small-scale fisheries value chains in the Mediterranean and Black Sea 
• Setting up a regional platform to promote the implementation of the voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries 

4. How do you see the involvement of the GFCM in the implementation of the Antalya Roadmap of which you are a partner?

The GFCM is aware of the targets set within the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) at the Conference of the Parties held in Aichi, Japan, and consolidated by the Rio+20 decisions which provide indications on efforts to improve the status of biodiversity and the management of marine resources. In particular, it is well concerned with the Aichi Target 11 aiming at reaching a 10 per cent protection in coastal and marine areas.

Within this framework, we see the Antalya roadmap as a set of guidelines to take steps towards an integrated co-management of MPAs. We share the vision and the four main objectives of the roadmap and we are particularly interested in activities proposed at the regional level (Mediterranean and Black Sea). As a regional fisheries management organisation having competence to set binding recommendations for the sustainable management of fisheries and the conservation of resources and habitats, the GFCM can contribute in providing an institutional framework to integrate fisheries and conservation governance, especially in ABNJs. 

The GFCM can also contribute to the development of databases incorporating all fisheries restricted areas, either national (area and time closures) or transnational (GFCM FRAs). These areas where fisheries activities are somehow limited should be considered as a special kind of protected areas when accounting for the 10 per cent Aichi Target. 

In this respect, it is worth recalling that Mediterranean ecosystems deeper than 1000 metres have been protected from towed dredges and trawl nets fishing since 2005. These areas already represent 58 per cent of the total Mediterranean area. 

Finally, the GFCM is progressively developing fisheries management plans based on an ecosystem approach and taking into account interactions among ecological and socio-economic services provided by marine ecosystems. Some measures are area-based and aimed at protecting sensitive zones. With respect to these areas, we have a particular interest in the small-scale fisheries sector which deploys its activity within coastal zones and we strongly hope that the first symposium on small-scale fisheries will provide positive outcomes in this respect.