At the opening of the meeting of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) on Monday 3 November, the Med Sea Alliance, together with Oceana and The Nature Conservancy, urged Mediterranean countries to strengthen transparency and compliance with fisheries management rules.
The alliance is calling for mandatory unique vessel identifiers (IMO numbers) for all vessels over 15 metres, including those with wooden hulls, to improve traceability and prevent illegal fishing.
It also calls on the Mediterranean countries to fully apply the GFCM compliance mechanism, partially adopted in 2023, and which will make it possible to penalise a Member when it fails to follow binding rules on fisheries management.
Lastly, the coalition is calling for the introduction of sea monitoring, including Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM), combining cameras, GPS and sensors, in order to harmonise data collection, strengthen compliance with obligations and guarantee decisions based on reliable information across Mediterranean fisheries.
The GFCM’s annual meeting takes place from 3 to 9 November in Malaga, Spain. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)