The GFCM Forum on Fisheries Science in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (Fish Forum) is the most important scientific gathering dedicated to fisheries and related issues in the region. It provides a unique platform for discussions of state-of-the-art fisheries science, as well as environmental, oceanographic and socioeconomic research, and has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as an example of an efficient interface between science and policymaking.

Science is integrated into all steps of the fisheries decision-making process of the GFCM. The Fish Forum contributes by offering a unique space to discuss emerging challenges and share cutting-edge scientific analyses, helping to identify key priorities in terms of current topics and methods, as well as the data and information needed to give them strong foundations. It also serves to broaden the scientific interest in the GFCM, with the aim of continuously enhancing the quality of science at the basis of potential future management decisions.

With their focus on a region warming 20 percent faster than the global average and where the combination of seafood demand, human pressures and ecosystem fragility requires strong and integrated science to inform environmentally, socially and economically effective and sustainable management measures, the discussions at the Fish Forum provide pathways and tools that can be replicated around the world.

The Fish Forum channels the objectives of Blue Transformation tools and techniques to secure and maximize the contribution of aquatic food systems to food security, nutrition and affordable healthy diets for all. The outcomes of the Fish Forum are showcased as regional contributions to global initiatives, such as the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference.

The first edition of the Fish Forum was held in 2018 at FAO headquarters in Rome, gathering more than 450 participants, 230 abstracts and 30 partner organizations.

The second edition, held in February 2024 in Antalya, Türkiye, was attended by more than 400 participants from 47 countries and drew over 300 abstracts. The event, organized in close collaboration with the host country, Türkiye, and with the financial support of the European Union, was endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). This second edition stressed the importance of technological innovation and youth involvement.