The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) held its thirteenth session in Marseille, France, from 7 to 11 February 2011. The session was attended by delegates from 21 Members of the Commission as well as observers from intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations together with the Russian Federation. The session appraised the achievements of its subsidiary bodies along with the outcome of the Coordinating Meeting of the Sub-Committees (CMSC). The Committee reviewed the topics addressed by the 17 technical meetings held by its subsidiary bodies. These included proposals for fishery management measures, research programmes, data collection schemes and development of Management Plans. It discussed several other technical issues connected to the exploitation of red coral and European eel, the status of elasmobranchs, the protection of seabirds, turtles and monk seals as well as the monitoring of the by-catch in the Mediterranean fisheries. The SAC further commented on the outputs of the workshop on algal and jellyfish blooms which provided options to tackle the problems posed by this phenomenon on fisheries and also gave due importance to the results of the workshops on recreational fisheries and on fishing gear selectivity. Definitions of some socio-economic parameters within the Task 1 data collection framework were reviewed and options for the improvement of the collection and submission of biological data under this framework were considered. The Committee acknowledged the progress made in undertaking joint stock assessments of several demersal and small pelagic species and identified a way of progression of the use of Biological Reference Points. The SAC also reviewed the progress made on the development and management of GFCM databases, including the new Biological Parameters Database and the newly released e-Glossary, as well as that made on the issue of catch weight thresholds in logbook reporting. Finally, the Committee proposed the establishment of a new Working Group to specifically address the Black Sea issues and agreed upon its workplan for 2011.