This Recommendation establishes a multiannual management plan for the fisheries catching European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in the Mediterranean Sea, in line with the precautionary approach to fisheries management. The purpose of the multiannual management plan is to provide and maintain high long-term yields and to guarantee a low risk of stock collapse while maintaining sustainable and relatively stable fisheries. This Recommendation requires contracting parties and cooperating non-contracting parities (CPCs) in whose territory fishing activities catch European eel in the Mediterranean Sea to implement such multiannual management plan for the fisheries concerned, in accordance with the general and specific objectives and measures laid down in this Recommendation. It addresses the critical state of the European eel stock as reported by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Fisheries (SAC) and the urgency to restore the conservation state of this stock. Therefore, all activities catching European eel, namely targeted, incidental and recreational catches, shall be covered by this plan. A set of transitional precautionary management measures shall be established to immediately decrease fishing mortality and to keep the stock at biologically sustainable levels over the long term. Other anthropogenic mortality factors shall be taken into account in their management measures to reduce their impact on European eel.
2023-01-01