DRIFTMED is a DG MARE project, with the main objective of identifying and characterizing, both for the past and the present, the small scale driftnet fisheries (SSD fisheries) in the Mediterranean. Other specific objectives were to characterize the main fisheries/métiers in terms of fishing capacity/activity and composition of the catches, to review all the existing provision regulating these fisheries, to assess the economic and their social relevance and, finally, to produce an evaluation of the feasibility of the use of alternative gears to exploit the same resources. The structure of the project has been organised according to four inter-correlated and sequential workpackages.