This first issue of The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries is a comprehensive review of the status and trends of fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It includes eight chapters, separated in two parts: a first part on the status and trends of Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries under different aspects such as fleet, catches, socio-economic variables, bycatch, small-scale fisheries and stock status, and a second part describing management measures adopted by the GFCM towards the sustainability of fisheries in its area of application. The report is based to a large extent on the most up-to-date data available submitted by GFCM contracting and cooperating non-contracting parties, including information on stock status, national catches, fleet and socio-economic information up to 2014. It is also complemented with information from other sources, including literature review and, for small-scale fisheries, the outcomes of the First Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, organized in 2013 in Malta.