Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 of 21 December 2006 (hereafter the 'MedReg') provided a legal basis to establish a management framework for the sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources in the Mediterranean Sea, amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1626/94. The MedReg was adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2007. Since then the legislation has been amended twice, firstly in December 2011 (Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011) and more recently on 20 May 2015 (Regulation (EU) No 2015/812) following the revision of the Basic Regulation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). A retrospective evaluation study of the MedReg is considered appropriate given that seven years have elapsed since its adoption and four years since its full entry into force in 2011 (several measures were allocated phasing-in periods for varying lengths of time from 2007). Furthermore the new Basic Regulation of the CFP also introduced a number of practical measures such as the introduction of the requirement to meet maximum sustainable yield (MSY) within specified timeframes, the gradual introduction of the landing obligation and movement towards regionalisation. The objectives of this evaluation study (completed between September 2015 and May 2016) are firstly to review the implementation of the Regulation by Member States. Secondly the evaluation will analyse to what extent the objectives of the MedReg were reached, and identify main achievements and weakness in this respect with regard to both the previous and current CFPs in order to analyse the economic, social and environmental impacts of the EU intervention. Thirdly, the extent to which the Regulation is fit to contribute to deliver on the objectives of the CFP (as set out in 1380/2013 article 2) will be analysed, along with an identification of potential areas for improvement. The evaluation covers the entire geographic area where the MedReg is applicable, and its implementation in all Mediterranean EU Member States. Specific focus is also applied to four pre-defined sub-regions which also encompass one or more General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) geographic sub-areas: the Gulf of Lions; the Northern Adriatic; the Straits of Sicily; and the Aegean Sea and Central Levantine Basin.

Aquaculture is one of the world's fastest-growing industries, with 6 % annual growth since 2010, and is becoming an increasingly important component of the world's food production. European aquaculture has not kept up with the pace of change in other parts of the world, growing only 24 % since 1990, and only 6 % since 2007. As with all food production industries, aquaculture has a range of positive and negative impacts for the environment and the socio-economic system, which varies across production type, species, geography and biophysical context. The overall purpose of this study is to present the scientific basis of the positive and negative impacts of European aquaculture from an economic, environmental and social point of view, in order to facilitate a well-informed debate. However, the study does not seek to assess the magnitude or likelihood of impacts, compare magnitude or likelihood of impacts among different types of aquaculture nor compare the impacts identified to those of alternative food production systems. In order to achieve this aim, the project first undertook an extensive literature review to collate state-of-the-art scientific information on the positive and negative impacts of aquaculture. The study examined scientific peer-reviewed literature, supplemented by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries and European Data Collection Framework for aquaculture and focused on finfish culture (sea cages; ponds, tanks, and raceways; and recirculating aquaculture systems), shellfish culture (suspended, trays, and bottom culture), macroalgae and microalgae. To complement the impacts derived from the scientific literature a deeper analysis of impacts was conducted via 18 case studies across Denmark, Germany, France, Poland, Netherlands, Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The case studies covered a range of production technologies and species types. The case studies were used to verify impacts identified in the scientific literature, to identify any impacts potentially overlooked by the scientific literature and to identify legislation and mitigation relevant to the aquaculture type at the national level. The case studies combined information from the literature review, supplementary scientific and grey literature of specific relevance to the case study, and key expert interviews (40 in total). Key experts consulted were primarily those from relevant national authorities and national research institutes. In parallel with the case studies, a review of the EU and national regulatory frameworks and associated mitigation measures was conducted. The review and the key expert interviews from the case studies were used to provide a preliminary analysis of the extent to which the regulatory framework mitigates negative impacts from aquaculture. The information from the literature reviews and the case studies was then collated and evaluated to provide an overview of the most important and most broadly identified positive and negative impacts for different aquaculture types. The evaluation made specific efforts to highlight consensus between the scientific literature and the opinions of key experts, as well as highlighting where these differ - indicating potential priority areas for future research.