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General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean

Management plan
Common dolphinfish fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea

Common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) is a GFCM priority species of regional importance, targeted mainly by small-scale fisheries using anchored fish aggregating devices (FADs). Present throughout the Mediterranean, it requires basin-level management. In this context, the environmental impacts associated with the use of FADs have received increasing attention.

In response, in order to reduce the ecosystem impacts associated with FADs and to ensure that common dolphinfish stocks remain at sustainable levels, the GFCM adopted, in 2023, a multiannual management plan, together with an international joint inspection and surveillance scheme for fisheries operating outside national waters.


Main provisions

  • Two-step approach comprising:
    • a three-year transitional period, from 2024 to 2026, with the implementation of transitional measures, including catch limits, maximum number of FADs per vessel, minimum conservation reference size (MCRS) as well as other technical measures, and foreseeing the finalization of a benchmark assessment of the stock
    • a long-term period, from 2027 to 2031, with the implementation of adaptive, long-term measures stemming from the evaluation of the transitional management measures and supported by a management strategy evaluation
  • Temporal closure from 1 January to 14 August every year in all geographical subareas
  • Annual catch limits
  • Limitation of the number of FADs deployed per vessel
  • Minimum conservation reference size of 35 cm total length, with 5 percent tolerance in weight or in numbers
  • Limitation of fishing effort (i.e. the number of fishing vessels) at the 2019 level
  • Daily bag limit for recreational fishers of 10 kg or five fish of any size per person per day
  • Minimizing entanglement by FADs of non-target and vulnerable species and other impacts on the environment (e.g. by prioritizing biodegradable materials)
  • Compulsory marking of FADs with identification information
  • List of authorized fishing vessels maintained by CPCs and communicated to the GFCM
  • Requirement for each CPC to ensure adequate mechanisms to record each fishing vessel in a national fleet register, to record vessels’ catches and fishing effort via the logbook, and to monitor fishing vessels’ activities and landings via catch and effort sampling surveys
The provisions of the multiannual management plan are complemented and enforced through an international joint inspection and surveillance scheme applicable outside the waters under national jurisdiction in the Mediterranean Sea (adopted in 2017 and 2018 and extended in 2022).

Objectives

  • Ensure that exploitation levels of common dolphinfish are, or maintained, at maximum sustainable yield levels
  • Prevent increases in fishing effort and adjust fishing capacity to levels consistent with maximum sustainable yield, with a view to ensuring economically viable fleets
  • Contribute to the elimination of discards
  • Reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities
  • Reduce the impacts of FADs on ecosystems
  • Limit fishing mortality from other sources, i.e. for recreational fisheries targeting common dolphinfish

Resources