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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The third session of the Working Group on Management Strategy Evaluation (WGMSE) on Blackspot Seabream  was convened to finalize the evaluation of rebuilding strategies based on management strategy evaluation (MSE), and provide recommendations for long-term stock rebuilding strategies, in line with the provisions of Recommendation GFCM/45/2022/3 for the post-2026 period for blackspot seabream MSE, as adopted by the Subregional Committee for the Western Mediterranean in 2024. Session 3 was held from 8–9 May 2025 online with the specific object to finalize the technical component of the MSE towards a recovery/rebuilding management procedure for blackspot seabream before the next Subregional Committee for the Western Mediterranean in 2025. For this purpose, the MSE results were updated based on the update benchmark assessment outcomes with data until 2024. The group reviewed, refined and agreed on the rebuilding objectives, fisheries and rebuilding performance metrics, nine candidate harvest control rules (HCRs) and the set of robustness tests, as well as the layout of figures and tables to be used for presenting the final MSE results. The performance metrics were agreed to be evaluated for three evaluation periods: i) end of the multi-annual management plan in the end of 2030; ii) intermediate period with average fishery performance 2031-2040 and rebuilding performance at the end of 2035; and iii) long-term sustainability goals for 2045, corresponding to two generation times of blackspot seabream. Following the review of the updated MSE results, it was suggested that nine HCRs put forward provide adequate contrast between the short-term and long-term trade-offs among alternative management strategies for rebuilding the blackspot seabream in geographical subareas 1–3.