PDF: English | French | Arabic

ABSTRACT

The thirty-sixth session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), including the third session of the Committee on Administration and Finance (CAF) and the sixth session of the Compliance Committee (CoC), was attended by representatives from 19 Contracting Parties, two non-GFCM Member countries and 18 observers. It coincided with the sixtieth anniversary of the entry into force of the GFCM constitutive agreement. The Commission reviewed the intersessional activities of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Committee on Aquaculture (CAQ) as well as the outcomes of the Task Force established to modernise the GFCM legal and institutional framework. In this respect, it decided to launch a process of revision of the basic texts of the GFCM. Furthermore, the Commission adopted binding recommendations based on scientific advice for the exploitation of red coral, the mitigation of incidental catches of cetaceans and the conservation of sharks, skates and rays together with a resolution on guidelines for allocated zones for aquaculture. The framework for the implementation of multiannual management plans for Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries, including at sub-regional level, was discussed. The Commission adopted its 2012 autonomous budget, amounting to US$ 1 805 027, along with its programme of work for the intersession, including the convening of several technical meetings and of the second session of its Working Group on the Black Sea. In order to discharge its duties, and as a support to the Task Force activities, the Commission endorsed the first GFCM Framework Programme for 2013–2018. This programme, which is aimed at enhanching sustainable development and cooperation in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea through a better management of fisheries and aquaculture was heralded by the signature of seven Memoranda of Understanding (with UNEP-MAP, ACCOBAMS, ICES, the Black Sea Commission, MedPAN, Eurofish and RAC/MED), which were adopted by the Commission, and by the review of the activities carried out by the FAO Regional Projects.