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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Workshop on red coral organized by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) was held in Gammarth, Tunisia, on 7–8 March 2017. It was attended by 31 participants from several GFCM countries (Albania, Algeria, France, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia) as well as by representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its regional projects, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the GFCM Secretariat. In order to comply with the request made by the Commission at its fortieth session of (Malta, June 2016) to review national research programmes currently implemented by contracting parties and cooperating non-contracting parties (CPCs) and to progress towards the adoption of a red coral regional management plan, the workshop discussed: i) the current exploitation rates of red coral and technical options for the implementation of an adaptive regional management plan; ii) scientific data available from national research programmes, including through the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROV); and iii) a proposal for a regional research programme on Mediterranean red coral. The results of the analysis carried out on red coral management and harvesting data transmitted by CPCs to the GFCM Secretariat from 2013 to 2015 were presented to the workshop. They indicated that in some cases, the information avalaible was not sufficient to provide picture a comprehensive picture of the fishery as well as anda precise advice on the status of the stock. Still, the consistence of available data with the operational objectives outlined in the GFCM Guidelines on the management of red coral (2014) and a review of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) measures implemented at the national level was carried out. The contents of the GFCM concept note for a research programme on red coral were revised and updated by the experts during the meeting and the importance of using ROV for scientific research was discussed in light of the results of some studies presented to the meeting.