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STREAMLINE reaches its end after achieving its main objective of supporting the RCG Med&BS in drafting a Regional Work Plan

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After two years of work, the STREAMLINE project came to an end in December 2022 accomplishing the planned objectives.  

STREAMLINE reaches its end after achieving its main objective of supporting the RCG Med&BS in drafting a Regional Work Plan (RWP) for the Mediterranean and Black Sea through a co-creative work process with the RCG Med&BS and Member States.

Taking advantage of the outcomes of the different STREAMLINE Work Packages, a non-binding RWP was drafted and submitted to European Commission in October 2022 for consideration by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). The non-binding RWP for 2023 included the following points for regional coordination:

  • Sampling marine recreational fisheries;
  • Sampling plan for biological data;
  • Research surveys at sea;
  • Monitoring of the incidental catches of sensitive species;
  • Demersal fish stomach contents collection and analysis.

The STECF appreciated the well-designed proposed non-binding RWP and acknowledged the work done to propose such an advanced version where all the elements are almost ready to be part of an RWP.

In addition, STREAMLINE supported the RCG Med&BS in establishing processes for discussions, exchange and decision-making, including its broader institutional embeddedness in national data collection structures that will enable the RCG Med&BS to come to commonly agreed decisions on regional work plans.

Building on the successful experience of its predecessors MARE/2014/19 Med&BS and STREAM in organizing dedicated trainings and workshops, STREAMLINE also enhanced the capacity-building process in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. This enabled all the Med&BS Member States to have the opportunity to improve their skills and knowledge in some specific topics, such as the use of R tools for optimized sampling strategies of commercial fisheries (including SSF) and data quality checks.

Following the end of the project and with the aim of achieving a smooth handover of tasks and responsibilities between the grant and the RCG (and relevant ISSGs/Workshops), a final virtual joint meeting was held on 21st December 2022 and was attended by 33 experts. The meeting was opened by Alessandro Ligas, Coordinator of STREAMLINE, and was attended by the current presidents of RCG Med&BS, Jurgen Mifsud (Malta) and Beatriz Guijarro (Spain), and the next co-chair, Emmanuel Tessier (France).

It is now possible to say that this long and step-by-step process has managed to achieve the expected results since a non-binding RWP for the Mediterranean and Black Sea was drafted and submitted, which will represent a robust starting point for progressing towards the preparation of a binding RWP to be implemented in 2025-2027.

To this end, STECF welcomed the resumption (agreed at the liaison meeting in September 2022) of the pan-regional ISSG on setting up Regional Work Plans which will take over from both STREAMLINE and FISHN’CO grants in helping produce the final draft of RWPs. RCGs Secretariat can play a pivotal role in facilitating pan-regional cooperation and coordination.

The RCG Med&BS shall align with RCG NANS&EA, Baltic, ECON and Large Pelagics on the objective of presenting an official RWP 2025-2027 to the RCG Technical meeting 2023. For this to happen, a first version will need to be circulated to all relevant MS as early as possible.

The presence and involvement of key experts from the STREAMLINE consortium in the ISSGs created under the RCG Med&BS and in the pan-regional ISSG on setting up Regional Work Plans will guarantee the continuation of the work towards the drafting of Regional Work Plans that shall be submitted by 2023, for final approval by the end of 2024, and implementation in the period 2025-2027.