Dear Marmam list members, The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the FAO is a Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs)<http://www.gfcm.org/fishery/rfb/en>, fully committed to promote the development, conservation, rational management and best utilization of living marine resources, as well as the sustainable development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. In recent years, the GFCM has started to tackle the issue of by-catch of species of conservation concern such as cetaceans, seals, seabirds and sea turtles and several binding recommendations addressed to GFCM Members were issued (read more at www.gfcm.org<http://www.gfcm.org>). The GFCM is now starting to develop a regional database on by-catch that will host available information on by-catch rates at regional level, divided by species (or group of species) and type of fisheries. Data from all possible sources will be incorporated to the database. This database is intended to become the reference by-catch database of the region and data will be made available for free consultation. With this aim, we would like to invite all interested authors and scientists to submit published articles as well as grey literature - from 1980s to date - which report and describe by-catch of: · Cetaceans · Monk seal (Monachus monachus) · Seabirds · Sea turtles The database will host data related to Mediterranean and Black Sea only (FAO area 37). All authors will be properly acknowledged and cited in the database. For further information and to submit papers and materials, please write to pilar.hernandez@fao.org<mailto:pilar.hernandez@fao.org> or to gfcm.fao@gmail.com<mailto:gfcm.fao@gmail.com> (for attachments exceeding 9 MB). Thank you very much, Pilar ------------------------- Pilar Hernández Information Management Officer GFCM Secretariat General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) www.gfcm.org Telf.: +39 06 57054617 Palazzo Blumenstihl, Via Vittoria Colonna 1 00193, Rome