Working Group on Marine Protected Areas(WGMPA),including a session on essential fish habitats (EFH). FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy, 18–21 February 2019

The thirdmeeting of the Working Group on Marine Protected Areas(WGMPA)2took place from 18to 21February 2019at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters, Rome, Italy. As agreed by the forty-secondsession of the Commission(FAO headquarters, Italy, October 2018), the meeting addressed the following main tasks: i) review new and pending proposals for the establishment of GFCMfisheries restricted areas  (FRAs);  ii) assess  the effectivenessof  existing  FRAs  against  their objectives  and  propose suitable scientific  monitoring  plans; and iii) advance  on  the  implementation  of Resolution GFCM/41/2017/5 on a network of essential fish habitatsin the GFCM area of application. The meeting reviewedpending proposals for FRAs, in particular the proposal for a FRAin the Otranto channel (GSA 18), as well as a new proposal fora FRA in the Ligurian Sea (GSA 9).The WGMPA also discussed suitable ways to monitor the FRAs from ascientific point of view and identified the most relevant EFH for priority species.Finally, the meeting reiterated the importance ofcreatinga scientific database collecting evidence on the existence of VME indicators and proposed a new template (based on the already existing VME template of theInternational Council for the Exploration of the Sea [ICES])to populate the database with existing and new relevant scientific information. 1Suggested citation: GFCM, 2019. Report of the third meeting of the Working Group on Marine Protected Areas (WGMPA), FAO HQ, Italy, 18–21 February 2019.2This meeting was supported by the European Union under grant agreement no SI2.771026.

Report of the second meeting of the Working Group on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (WGVME). FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy, 26 – 28 February 2018

The second meeting of the Working Group on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (WGVME) took place from 26 to 28 February 2018 at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters, Rome, Italy. As agreed by the forty-first session of the Commission (Montenegro, October 2017), the meeting addressed the requirements of Resolution GFCM/41/2017/4 on a permanent working group on vulnerable marine ecosystems to carry out the following tasks: i) collect information and map the distribution of VMEs; ii) advise on new proposals for closures and on the enforcement of existing measures (e.g. of existing fisheries restricted areas [FRAs] addressing VME protection); iii) assess technical information; iv) advise the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) on matters related to VMEs; v) contribute to designing and managing a Mediterranean VME geodatabase; and vi) contribute to the establishment of a close collaboration and proper communication channels with scientific bodies from other regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs). In particular, the objectives of the 2018 WGVME were to: i) review and update the technical elements for the establishment of a VME encounter protocol; ii) discuss additional potential management measures to be applied to deep-sea fishing; iii) update the information on the existence and distribution of Mediterranean VME; and iv) address the newly adopted Resolution GFCM/41/2017/5 on a network of essential fish habitats (EFH) in the GFCM area of application. The meeting reviewed the technical elements for the protection of VMEs in the GFCM area of application drafted by the 2017 WGVME, paying particular attention to management elements for the mapping of the existing deep-sea fishing areas for the Mediterranean (by 2020), the establishment of a VME encounter reporting protocol and of an exploratory deep-sea bottom fishing reporting protocol, the adoption of VME indicators (features, habitats and taxa) and the creation and use of a GFCM VME geodatabase. The WGVME also agreed on a process for the establishment and protection of VMEs while determining the fishing footprint. The WGVME addressed the issue of EFH working towards the objectives of: i) reviewing the information available on EFH and sensitive habitats (SH) in the Mediterranean Sea; ii) creating a network of people working on EFH and SH in the Mediterranean; and iii) defining a roadmap on how to address Resolution GFCM/41/2017/5. Thus the WGVME drafted a catalogue of projects and people working on EFH in the Mediterranean and collected all available model-based maps of EFH of priority species in the Mediterranean to provide a basis for future work on the creation of regional composite maps per species. Finally, the WGVME proposed a roadmap for future work on the establishment of a network of EFH in the Mediterranean

Subcommittee on Economic and Social Sciences (SCESS) - 15th Session. Report

The fifteenth session of the Subcommittee on Economic and Social Sciences (SCESS) of the GFCM Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) addressed the following topics: i) socioeconomic assessments in selected case studies; ii) estimation and submission of selected variables under Task V (socioeconomics) of the Data Collection Reference Framework (DCRF); iii) developments on small-scale fisheries; and iv) activities undertaken in working towards a common methodology for socioeconomic analysis. The SCESS agreed on the need to regularly assess socioeconomic indicators at the regional level and the importance of devising a mechanism for reporting the results obtained from bioeconomic models to the SAC. The Subcommittee elaborated on the definition of key socioeconomic indicators within the DCRF and on the process for reporting them. For the upcoming regional conference on small-scale fisheries, the session agreed on the importance of having case studies that are geographically representative of the GFCM region. In line with this, the SCESS encouraged submissions of proposals for case studies. Finally, the importance of having guidelines that establish a common methodology for socioeconomic assessments was highlighted during this sessio

Selectivity of diamond- and square-mesh codends in de deepwater crustacean trawl fishery off the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean)

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