Appendix 2.4  Meeting report
Rabat and Casablanca, the 01-02 December 1998
by J. Bertrand

On a R. Robles’s initiative (Fao-Copemed), some Medits’s co-ordinators have taken part in meetings with Moroccan officials and scientists in Rabat and Casablanca (Morocco) the 01-02 December 1998. The objectives of the meetings were to present the Medits programme and to prepare a possible integration of Moroccan partners in this programme. With this aim in view, two meetings have been held respectively at the Fisheries Department headquarters (Rabat, 01/12/1998) and at the INRH headquarters (Casablanca, 02/12/1998) (see list of participants in appendix 2.4.1).

During a general exchange of information, the Medits programme and the Moroccan trawl survey programme developed by the INRH in the Mediterranean sea have been presented. The Moroccan programme has begun in 1985. Since this moment, two bottom trawl surveys are carried out each year, respectively in spring and in autumn, with approximately 50 hauls by survey. The hauls are distributed along radial lines perpendicular to the coast between the Gibraltar Strait and the Algeria-Morocco border, from 30 to 500 meters depth. These surveys are made aboard the R/V Charif Alidrissi (41 meters length, horsepower 1100 CV). The gear used is a bottom trawl with 40 mm of stretched mesh size, 3-4 meters of wide opening and 18-24 meters between the wing heads. Different equipment (differential GPS, Scanmar) are used to better qualify the characteristics of the hauls. The surveys are aimed to produce abundance indices and basic information for fishery resource assessment. They are mainly focused on Sparidae, mullets and hake.

The Moroccan officials have expressed their interest in joining the Medits programme since the 1999 survey and R. Robles has indicated that he will act to permit that Fao-Copemed will give support to this project. As general co-ordinator, J. Bertrand has expressed to the Moroccan interlocutors his welcome wishes in the Medits programme and his intention to present the project to the Medits co-ordination committee with a view to its agreement.

As the main goals of the Medits programme are (i) to produce a common data base on the trawlable demersal resources in the Mediterranean and (ii) to favour common analyses useful for the fishery managers from these data, the following points have been highlighted in view of the participation of the Moroccan team in the Medits programme.

·    With reference to the organisation of the Medits programme, the Moroccan area will be included as a Region in the programme. The Moroccan partners have been invited to nominate one scientist as co-ordinator for the Region. This co-ordinator will be member of the Medits steering committee. It has been strongly recommended that the chosen scientist will be directly in charge of the project, including the possibility for him to take part in the surveys at sea.

·    The Moroccan team will be invited to manage privileged relationships with the Spanish Medits team, as the closest partner in the area.

·    As it has been done with all the other partners, the Moroccan team has been invited to strictly refer to the common standards as defined in the Medits manual of protocols for the production of the basic data. Its attention has been particularly drawn on the following points:

à  The sampling gear is defined from the doors to the codend of the net. Till now, all the doors used in the Medits programme have been built by the same maker to ensure their similarity. It has been recommended to apply the same procedure for the Moroccan vessel. Furthermore, it has been advised that the first sampling gear and rigging should be made by a maker who has already produced Medits gears.

à   Concerning the sampling scheme, the Moroccan team has been invited to follow the general schedule already used in the other regions, with an objective of approximately one station by 60 square nautical miles. It has been anticipated that the total number of stations in the region should be close to 50.

à  It has been recommended that a short test survey (2-3 days) should be organized aboard the R/V Charif Alidrissi one month before the full survey to ensure the qualification for the work at sea. This survey should be made with the contribution of a fishery technologist already involved in the Medits programme. The Medits co-ordinator will approach P.Y. Dremière (fishery technologist in Ifremer-Sète) with this aim in view.

·    The Moroccan partner will be invited to take part in all the activities of the programme. As all the other partners, it is anticipated that he will fully contribute in the development of common analyses of the data.

·    It has been underlined that the global quality of the work done within the programme is strongly based on the confidence between the partners on the application of the common rules adopted by the group, for the production of the basic data as well as for their valorization (cf. ‘’charte sur l’utilisation des données’’).

To favour the implementation of the project, the general co-ordinator of the programme will organize the transmission to the Moroccan team of all the basic information related to the programme. As a first step of information, the Moroccan team has been incited to consult the Medits web site (http://www.gisbau.uniroma1.it/Medits).

Finally, on behalf of the Medits group, the co-ordinator has warmly thanked R. Robles for his invitation in this meeting and for its contribution for the enlargement of the programme in the South Mediterranean sea. He has thanked the Moroccan authorities for their very nice reception in Morocco as well as for the quality of the work done during the meetings. He has expressed the wish that this meeting will be the beginning of a fruitful collaboration inside the Medits programme.