As part of the Action Plan concerning species introductions and invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, RAC/SPA has organized an Ad Hoc expert meeting on the 27th and 28th of November 2011 at Tunis to discuss operational plan for establishing a regional mechanism to collect, compile and circulate information on invasive non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean sea, following a feasibility study prepared for this purpose.

This meeting brought together around the same table seven international experts specialized in topics related to invasive species in the Mediterranean. It has been an exercise to define the objectives and issues of such a mechanism and to clarify the concept of the future mediterranean database on non-indigenous species.

Thus, in this meeting was presented a feasibility study prepared for RAC/SPA by an international experts present at this meeting. This study was allowed to review several systems already established and to identify the advantages and defects in this process in order, get experience of what already exists.

This mechanism should be, in fact, articulated in three steps:

• A first step of information collecting conducted at the national level.
• Subsequently, these data would be centralized at a regional level in a system to collect, analyze and compile this information.
• The third step, which is a continuation of the previous one, is the recirculation of information and its dissemination at the regional level.