the reform focuses on fisheries sustainability in response to the state of the main national fisheries most of which are overexploited one of the main elements incorporated in this reform is a changed structure of the decisionmaking process which will be firmly based on scientific information compared to the current system in which stakeholders are involved leading to sometimes socioeconomic criteria being prioritised over sustainability in addition the reform strengthens fisheries research introduces new inspection elements for smallscale fisheries setting vms and catch certification for large vessels upgrades the industrial and smallscale fisheries access system and introduces mechanisms for the establishment of a rebuilding programme in accordance to the oecd guidelines among other elements two other legal initiatives are currently under discussion the regulation control and sanction of discards and the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems