ABSTRACT

The forty-seventh session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and the fourteenth session of the Committee on Administration and Finance (CAF) were held at FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy, from 4 to 8 November 2024 and attended by delegates from 21 contracting parties, 3 cooperating non-contracting parties and 1 non-contracting party. Representatives from 14 intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the GFCM Secretariat, as well as invited experts, were also in attendance.

During the session, progress on work related to fisheries, aquaculture, compliance and other strategic activities was reviewed. In relation to the management of fisheries in the GFCM area of application, 12 recommendations were adopted, dealing with: i) the management of European eel and red coral in the Mediterranean Sea; ii) additional remedial measures for blackspot seabream in the Alboran Sea; iii) the implementation of a long-term fishing effort regime and catch limits in 2025 for small pelagic stocks, as well as of a fishing effort regime for key demersal stocks, in the Adriatic Sea; iv) the establishment of a fisheries restricted area in the Otranto Channel; v) the extension of a management plan for turbot and of management measures for piked dogfish and sprat fisheries, as well as the establishment of management measures for rapa whelk and sturgeons, in the Black Sea; and vi) the implementation of conversion factors within the framework of the multiannual management plan for demersal stocks in the Strait of Sicily. In addition, the Commission adopted five resolutions in relation to fisheries, aquaculture and compliance, dealing with: i) roadmaps for a joint project to collect scientific evidence towards the management plan for demersal fisheries in the Strait of Sicily and for the implementation of a fisheries restricted area in the Cabliers coral mounds in the Alboran Sea; ii) principles for responsible investment and a network of institutions working on pathogens in aquaculture; and iii) a voluntary data exchange format and protocol in relation to the vessel monitoring system in the context of voluntary international joint inspection schemes.

Finally, the Commission adopted its programme of work for the next intersession and approved its autonomous budget for 2025, amounting to USD 2 974 075, and its autonomous budget for 2026 and 2027, amounting to USD 3 157 108 and USD 3 182 861, respectively. The Commission also extended the mandate of its current Bureau for two additional years and endorsed the new Bureaus of the Compliance Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries.