(08-09-09) Experts in fishing from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, France, Spain, Libya and the European Commission will participate the next September 10 and 11 in an international meeting in the seat of Sub-Delegation of the Government in Malaga to develop a pilot project that will allow to implement square mesh of 40 mm in bottom trawls.

The meeting is organized by the Project Coordination to Support Fisheries Management in the Western and Central Mediterranean (CopeMed II) with the support of the Subdelegation.

According to the resolution adopted in 2007 by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), in response to the scientific studies that showed the critical state of demersal resources (species that live on the bottom or very close to the it, exploited by trawlers), member countries should implement 40 mm square mesh in trawls before 2010.

Current information on biological and socioeconomic effects of implementing the 40 mm mesh does not cover all the countries or all the fishing fleets, so that the Plenary of GFCM also recommended to the countries the conduction of more studies about selectivity.

In this regard, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean decided at its 2009 Plenary Session held in Tunisia in March a new recommendation: “to all trawling activities that exploit demersal resources in the GFCM area, the members of the Commission will implement, not later than January 31, 2012, a corded with square mesh with 40 mm minimum size, or possibly diamond mesh of at least 50 mm or an equivalent with greater selectivity.”

To start the pilot studies requested by the GFCM, CopeMed II has supported a pilot study in Morocco, in order to give a regional dimension to this activity later, and to extend the studies in other African countries members of CopeMed II together with the participation of European countries.

The protocols and methodologies that the group will prepare in the meeting in Malaga will be first applied in Morocco, later in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The ultimate purpose of participating countries, GFCM and CopeMed II, is to make trawling more selective, reducing the impact on the environment and exploited ecosystems and to find sustainable ways of exploitation. In short, they intend to make a management of resources based on the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries of FAO and within the ecosystem approach to fisheries management.