Ecosystem Based Marine Resource Management (EAM) approaches are particularly interesting in areas such as the Mediterranean Sea, which is spatially relatively enclosed and affected by multiple drivers and forces, from environmental and socio-economic ones, to the shared use of fisheries resources. Moreover, most Mediterranean fisheries are multi-species and multi-target, and small-scale fisheries are of great socio-economic importance.

In different parts of the world, in the last decades the focus of fishery management has shifted from an approach aiming at maximizing the catch of a single target species (single-species management) to a broader view. Such new vision considers the well-being of the marine ecosystem as a whole, as well as economic and social complexities of managing marine living resources.