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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Expert Group on European Eel in the Mediterranean (EGEMed), including the 2023 session of the Working Group on the Management of European Eel (WGMEASURES-EEL) was organized by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 8–9 June 2023 at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. The objectives of the meeting were to: i) discuss the next steps of the GFCM research programme on European eel; and ii) discuss relevant available information to further evaluate the possibility of implementing additional measures addressing glass eel (such as a total ban, catch imitations or determining key habitats) towards the possible implementation of new long-term measures in 2024. Noting the importance of the research programme on European eel, scientific partners presented an ambitious proposal for a second phase of the programme. As the first step in this second phase, the EGEMed outlined a roadmap towards informing the future GFCM long-term management plan for the European eel in the Mediterranean. Moreover, acknowledging the alarming status of European eel in the Mediterranean and across its entire distribution range, the EGEMed recognized the possibility of implementing additional measures addressing glass eel fisheries and suggested the possibility of a gradual reduction in glass eel fisheries over time. In line with the advice stemming from the forty-fifth session of the GFCM and Recommendation GFCM/45/2022/1, the EGEMed also recommended a long-term management plan for European eel in the Mediterranean be adopted in 2023 and rolled out in three phases.