Rome, Italy. As the plague of IUU fishing is receiving increasing attention from the international community, the representatives of 28 States have just expressed their support towards initiatives aimed at combatting its negative effects. On the occasion of the intersessional meeting of the Compliance Committee of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held at FAO headquarters in Rome on 19–20 January 2016, a number of GFCM Contracting Parties conveyed their strong willingness to back the declaration of an international day for the fight against IUU fishing, within the remit of the FAO. This represents an important step as broad support from relevant organizations which are committed to raise awareness on IUU fishing will be crucial to this end.

The meeting, which was open also to several observers, including non-governmental organizations such as the Mediterranean Advisory Council (MEDAC), the Mediterranean Recovery Action (MedReAct), the PEW Charitable Trust and the World Wide fund for Nature (WWF), enabled to take stock of the progress made since the thirty-ninth session of the GFCM, held at EXPO in Milan last May, with a view to bringing this proposal to the attention of the thirty-second session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, due to take place in July 2016.

Several other issues connected to compliance with existing rules and the implementation of recommendations adopted by the GFCM were also tackled in this instance. In this respect, the ongoing process of identification of cases of non-compliance, by which it will be possible to identify non-compliant Contracting Parties and Cooperating non-Contracting Parties to the GFCM, was tackled and the Compliance Committee acknowledged an increased willingness to abide by common rules established. The fruitful outcomes of the meeting are an indication of the existing commitment to achieve a level playing field in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. To this end, the GFCM is expected to strengthen its role in supporting capacity-building initiatives in the near future, namely through partnerships and technical assistance in priority areas for fisheries in the region, including monitoring, control and surveillance.