Possibly sustainable exploitated.
[The GFCM methodology to provide stock status and management advice is described in the Appendix F of the Sixteenth Session of the Scientific Advisory Committee Report. See the Bibliography section.]

Stock assessment in the GFCM area of application is often conducted by management units, based on GSAs. This method does not ensure that the whole stock is assessed, since stocks may cover several different management units. In some cases, when there is scientific evidence of a stock spreading through different GSAs, as well as information on species from different GSAs, existing information is combined across GSAs. This is then defined as a “joint stock assessment of a shared stock”. The GFCM recommends that when scientific evidence of shared stocks exists, joint stock assessments should be attempted. A number of activities aimed at achieving a better definition of stock boundaries are currently being conducted at the GFCM level. [The State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries, 2016]

Red mullet is an important species for commercial fisheries, as it is one of the most landed demersal species in GSA 24. About 80 percent of red mullet is fished by bottom trawls and most of the remaining part is fished by gillnets. The stock in the eastern side is mainly exploited by bottom trawls, whereas in the western part, bottom trawling is very limited due to a 3 mile trawl exclusion zone where red mullet is mainly fished by small-scale fishers in negligible quantities.