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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The first meeting of the Subregional Committee for the Adriatic Sea (SRC-AS) of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) was held at the GFCM headquarters in Rome, Italy, on 3–5 February 2016, with the aim to: i) integrate, as appropriate, the assessments of the status of Adriatic stocks emanating from the GFCM Working Group on Stock Assessment of Demersal Species (WGSAD) and Working Group on Stock Assessment of Small Pelagic Species (WGSASP); ii) comment the outcomes of the Workshop on bioeconomic assessment of management measures; iii) compile the new management measures implemented in the Adriatic countries in line with Recommendation GFCM/39/2015/1; iv) provide advice in relation to the management of small pelagic fisheries in the Adriatic Sea, following the provisions of Rec. GFCM/37/2013/1, Rec. GFCM/38/2014/1 and Rec. GFCM/39/2015/1; and v) propose a list of activities of relevance to the subregion to be considered for the SAC work plan 2016–2017. 

The SRC-AS compiled a draft advice to update the technical contents of the management plan for small pelagic fisheries in the Adriatic Sea (Rec. GFCM/39/2015/1), including revised input data for stock assessment, new stock assessment models and reference points, as well as some indications on the need to use gradual management measures in the management plan. The SRC-AS recommended that the next benchmark assessment be carried out in 2018 and that further work on the assessment of management measures be continued. In addition to the advice in relation to the small pelagic management plan, the SRC-AS concluded that joint stock assessments should be attempted in the geographical subareas (GSAs) 17 and 18 for hake and red mullet, while also recognizing that hake and deep-water rose shrimp stocks probably expand beyond the Adriatic Sea (in GSAs 19 and 20). For all demersal stocks, the SRC-AS suggested that the assessment should take into account the different fleets exploiting the stocks and their potentially different selectivity patterns. Finally, the SRC-AS proposed that further work on the bioeconomic assessment of management measures be done and therefore proposed that training activities be conducted on quantitative assessments of management scenarios and that an expert group for the bioeconomic assessment of management measures be established.