CIESM Workshop Series, n°5:

Gaps in Mediterranean Fishery Science - Dubrovnik, Croatia, June 1998

Some 70 participants took part in this workshop held last June in Cavtat, Croatia, during the recent CIESM Congress. The main objective of the workshop was to openly confront and discuss the points of view of institutional users, scientists and managers and try identifying common priorities for Mediterranean Fishery Science. Among the main gaps recognised:

  • the lack of reliable time series; these are needed to identify both long term trends and exceptional events;
  • uncertainties about the catch effort deployed by small-scale artisanal fisheries;
  • our poor knowledge of the biology of juvenile stages and of fish migration patterns;
  • our ignorance of the nature and volume of bycatches;
  • the insufficient quality of Mediterranean fish statistics;
  • the lack of integration between fishery biologists and fishery managers, with too little connection between catch effort and population dynamics.
  • Research efforts must focus on these areas, as well as on injecting more realism into simulation models, and facilitating the exchange of methodology and data. In conclusion it is recommended that the complementarities of CIESM (science and training input) and GFCM (applications for sustainable management, with an increasing role for the European Commission) be optimized and serve as a basis for increased concertation.

    Moderators´ report is available in French, in pdf format (Warning: this material is protected by international copyright law).

    For more information, contact Dr C. Papaconstantinou.