Report of the forty-first session, Budva, Montenegro, 16–20 October 2017

The forty-first session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean as well as the eighth session of the Committee on Administration and Finance was attended by delegates of 22 contracting parties, as well as of three cooperating non-contracting parties and one non-contracting party. Representatives from 20 intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its regional projects as well as the Bureaus of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies, were also in attendance. During the session, the progress in the implementation of the mid-term strategy was reviewed, including in relation to the 2017 Malta MedFish4Ever Ministerial Declaration. Moreover, cooperation activities within the framework of agreements with contracting parties and cooperating non-contracting parties and with partner organizations were discussed. In light of its increasing cooperation with the GFCM, the Commission granted cooperating non-contracting party status to the Republic of Moldova. In relation to the management of fisheries and aquaculture in the GFCM area of application, a total of eight binding recommendations were adopted, dealing with the following issues: reporting of aquaculture data and information; management of blackspot seabream fisheries in the Alboran Sea; establishment of a fisheries restricted area in the Jabuka/Pomo Pit (Adriatic Sea); multiannual management plan for turbot fisheries in the Black Sea; establishment of a regional adaptive management plan for the exploitation of red coral in the Mediterranean; submission of data on fishing activities in the GFCM area of application; a regional plan of action to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the GFCM area of application and an international joint inspection and surveillance scheme outside the waters under national jurisdiction in the Strait of Sicily. Furthermore, the Commission adopted six resolutions including: a strategy for the sustainable development of Mediterranean and Black Sea aquaculture; guidelines for the streamlining of aquaculture authorization and leasing processes; the reactivation of the Working Group on Fishing Technology; a permanent working group on vulnerable marine ecosystems; a network of essential fish habitats and the application of an International Maritime Organization number. Finally, the Commission adopted its programme of work for the next intersession and approved its budget amounting to US$2 532 162 for 2018 as well as a number of strategic actions to be funded through extrabudgetary resources. It also unanimously endorsed the renewed Bureaus of the Committee on Administration and Finance, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Aquaculture, the Working Group on the Black Sea and the Compliance Committee.