The third meeting of the Coordination Committee of the MedSudMed Project (Assessment and monitoring of the fishery resources and the ecosystems in the Straits of Sicily) was attended by representatives of participating countries, a representative from the European Commission, the FAO Technical Matter officer as well as FAO MedSudMed staff. The meeting sought to present and discuss the results of the activities carried out by the Project referring to the period February 2004 - January 2005. In particular, the results of the working groups, training courses and technical consultations organized during this intercommittee period were presented. The outcome to date of all field research activities was presented and the work plan for the coming period was discussed and approved, relative to the main areas of the Project activities: spatial distribution of demersal resources in the Project area and the influence of environmental factors and fishery characteristics, small pelagic fish: stock identification and oceanographic processes influencing their abundance and distribution, marine protected areas as a tool for fisheries management. The Committee expressed its appreciation for the quantity and quality of the work carried out by the Project and for the level of coordination achieved especially concerning the standardization of methodologies at regional level.