Pilot project towards a harmonized legal framework for the conservation of Mediterranean living marine resources and ecosystems | GFCM-Lex

Fisheries and aquaculture legislation varies throughout the Mediterranean region and the information about legislative frameworks is scattered and difficult to find. In general, the national legislations of GFCM contracting parties and cooperating non-contracting parties (CPCs) are presented in different formats, which are often accessible in the national language only. Furthermore, access to the documentation related to such legislation can be very limited, particularly when there is no legal background. In addition, there is a lack of repositories/databases collecting information on marine living resources and marine ecosystems at the regional level.

The GFCM Regional Repository (GFCM-Lex) offers a transparent and user-friendly access to information on a country’s legislation relating to fisheries and aquaculture for fishers, practitioners, administrators, scientists, law specialists, and any other person interested in such information. It provides reliable information on relevant legislation for the management of marine living resources and ecosystems and on binding recommendations adopted by the GFCM. The GFCM-Lex platform is available in English, in addition to the national languages of the countries covered.

Access to the GFCM-Lex platform is limited. Please contact the GFCM Secretariat to request access.

IMPLEMENTATION AREA:

DURATION:

Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2022

FOCUS COUNTRIES:

Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia,Türkiye

Rest of the Mediterranean soon

USERS

➜ Fishers

➜ Practitioners

➜ Policy makers

➜ Students

➜ Researchers

➜ Scientists

➜ National administrations

➜ Non-governmental organizations

and any other relevant stakeholder interested to learn more about the topic.

OBJECTIVES

Provide a single access point to national legislation on the conservation of marine living resources and ecosystems in the in the GFCM area of application
Contribute to knowledge sharing, capacity building and development in relation to the conservation of marine living resources and ecosystems
Promote a better understanding of existing linkages between the national legislation in place and binding recommendations adopted by the GFCM.
Offer a coherent approach to national legislations on the conservation of marine living resources and ecosystems by identifying key areas:
- Aquaculture-fisheries interactions
- Access regimes to fisheries resources
- Conservation and management
- Monitoring, control and surveillance

OUTPUTS

Phase 1:

Identification of common standards and of a sub-regional methodology to facilitate the compilation, harmonization and dissemination of knowledge on national legislation.
Creation and launch of GFCM-Lex, the GFCM regional repository of national legislation with three pilot countries: Albania, and Tunisia and Türkiye.
Identification of national legislation in Albania, Tunisia and Türkiye for the platform
Training of national stakeholders on the benefits and use of GFCM-Lex and how to contribute to it
Preparation and dissemination of material (video and brochure) to promote the project, raise awareness on GFCM recommendations and related national legislations in place, and encourage the replication of best practices

AR | EN | SQ | TR

SQ | AR | EN | FR | TR

Phase 2:

Phase 2 of the project is expanding the geographical scope of the project to include Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco. Collaboration with the National Focal Points is being strengthened to identify relevant national legislation. Phase 2 builds upon the success of Phase 1 and focuses on the following actions:

Identification of national legislation in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco
Creation of additional country profiles in the GFCM-Lex repository
Training of national stakeholders on the benefits and use of GFCM-Lex and how to contribute to it
Preparation and dissemination of material to promote the project, raise awareness on GFCM recommendations and related national legislations in place and encourage the replication of best practices.

ACHIEVEMENTS

GFCM-Lex was developed to function as an information hub, bringing together international organizations, academia and non-governmental organizations to collect technical contents in order to enhance the platform.

GFCM-Lex first tested the methodology at the sub-regional level in three countries, Albania, Tunisia and Türkiye, who received assistance from the GFCM in:

identifying their national legislation relevant to GFCM recommendations;
analysing their legal and institutional frameworks towards possible amendments and revisions;
collecting all relevant laws and regulations to be included in the repository; and
making regular updates to the GFCM-Lex repository with information provided by contributors and stakeholders.

The geographical scope was then expanded to four additional countries with the financial assistance of the MAVA Foundation: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Morocco. In turn, all countries in the GFCM area of application will be included in the platform, benefitting from the experience gained through the project.

The countries confirmed the utility of the project commending the use of the GFCM-Lex project for assistance in amending their legislation.

Among the many achievements of the project, a social protection component was included in the national profiles thanks to the cooperation of the FAO Fisheries Division and will be extended to the other countries in the region in the near future.

KEY CONTACTS

Nicola FERRI
Compliance and Institutional Adviser
Ahmed SILIMAN
Compliance Officer
All users are welcome to contribute to the content of GFCM-Lex by providing relevant updates and materials. Please visit GFCM-Lex and follow the instructions. The GFCM Secretariat and the National Focal Points are ready to cooperate with researchers, associations, universities and any other stakeholder interested in the project.

With the financial support of :