Council Regulation (EC) No 1941/2006 of 11 December 2006 fixing the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2007

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1941/2006

of 11 December 2006

fixing the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2007

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy (¹), and in particular Article 20 thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 of 6 May 1996 introducing additional conditions for year-to-year management of TACs and quotas (²), and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(1) Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 requires the Council to adopt the measures necessary to ensure access to waters and resources and the sustainable pursuit of fishing activities taking account of available scientific advice and, in particular, the report prepared by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries.

(2) Pursuant to Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, it is incumbent upon the Council to establish fishing opportunity limits by fishery or group of fisheries and to allocate these opportunities to Member States.

(3) In order to ensure effective management of the fishing opportunities, the specific conditions under which fishing operations are carried out should be established.

(4) The principles as well as certain procedures for fishery management need to be laid down at Community level, so that Member States can ensure the management of the vessels flying their flag.

(5) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 lays down definitions relevant to the allocation of fishing opportunities.

(6) In accordance with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96, the stocks that are subject to the various measures referred to therein must be identified.

(7) Fishing opportunities should be used in accordance with Community legislation on the subject, and in particular with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1381/87 of 20 May 1987 establishing detailed rules concerning the marking and documentation of fishing vessels (³), Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2807/83 of 22 September 1983 laying down detailed rules for recording information on Member States' catches of fish (⁴), Council Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (⁵), Commission Regulation (EC) No 2244/2003 of 18 December 2003 laying down detailed provisions regarding satellite-based Vessel Monitoring Systems (⁶), and Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86 of 22 September 1986 defining characteristics for fishing vessels (⁷), Council Regulation (EEC) No 3880/91 of 17 December 1991 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in the north-east Atlantic (⁸) and Council Regulation (EC) No 2187/2005 of 21 December 2005 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Sound (⁹).

(8) In order to contribute to the conservation of fish stocks, certain supplementary measures on the control and technical conditions of fishing should be implemented in 2007,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation fixes fishing opportunities for the year 2007 for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea and the associated conditions under which such fishing opportunities may be used.

Article 2

Scope

Article 3

Definitions

In addition to the definitions laid down in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, for the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(a)the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) zones are as defined in Regulation (EEC) No 3880/91;

(b)‘Baltic Sea’ means ICES Divisions IIIb, IIIc and IIId;

(c)‘total allowable catch (TAC)’ means the quantity that can be taken from each stock each year;

(d)‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Community, a Member State or a third country.

CHAPTER II

FISHING OPPORTUNITIES AND ASSOCIATED CONDITIONS

Article 4

Catch limits and allocations

The catch limits, the allocation of such limits among Member States, and additional conditions in accordance with Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 are set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

Article 5

Special provisions on allocations

(a)exchanges made pursuant to Article 20(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002;

(b)reallocations made pursuant to Articles 21(4), 23(1) and 32(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93;

(c)additional landings allowed under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96;

(d)quantities withheld in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96;

(e)deductions made pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96.

Article 6

Conditions for catches and by-catches

(a)the catches have been taken by vessels of a Member State with a quota and that quota has not been exhausted; or alternatively

(b)species other than herring and sprat are mixed with other species, the catches have been taken with trawls, Danish seines or similar gears whose mesh size is less than 32 mm, and the catches are not sorted either on board or on landing.

Article 7

Fishing effort limits

Fishing effort limits are set out in Annex II.

Article 8

Transitional technical and control measures

Transitional technical and control measures are set out in Annex III.

CHAPTER III

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 9

Data transmission

When Member States send data to the Commission relating to landings of quantities of stocks caught pursuant to Article 15(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, they shall use the stock codes set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

Article 10

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 1 January 2007.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

Landings limits and associated conditions for year-to-year management of catch limits applicable to Community vessels in areas where catch limits exist by species and by area

The following tables set out the TACs and quotas (in tonnes live weight, except where otherwise specified) by stock, the allocation to the Member States and associated conditions for year-to-year management of the quotas.

ANNEX II

1. Fishing effort limits

1.1.Fishing with trawls, seines, or similar gears of a mesh size equal to or greater than 90 mm or with bottom set gillnets, entangling nets and trammel nets of a mesh size equal to or greater than 90 mm or with bottom set lines or long lines, except drift lines, shall be prohibited: (a)from 1 to 7 January, 31 March to 1 May and 31 December in Subdivisions 22 to 24; and (b)from 1 to 7 January, 5 to 10 April, 1 July to 31 August and 31 December in Subdivisions 25 to 26.

1.2.For fishing vessels flying their flag, Member States shall ensure that fishing with trawls, seines or similar gears of a mesh size equal to or greater than 90 mm or with bottom set gillnets, entangling nets and trammel nets of a mesh size equal to or greater than 90 mm or with bottom set lines or long lines, except drift lines, shall also be prohibited for: (a)77 calendar days in subdivisions 22 to 24 outside the period referred to in point 1.1(a); and (b)67 calendar days in subdivisions 25 to 26 outside the period referred to in point 1.1(b). Member States shall divide the days referred to in points (a) and (b) into periods of not less than 5 days, unless the days referred to in points (a) and (b) are added to the periods set out in points 1.1(a) and 1.1(b) respectively, excluding 31 December.;

1.3.Member States shall, not later than 7 January 2007, notify to the Commission and make available on their websites the precise dates of the calendar days referred to in point 1.2 which should be identical for fishing vessels flying the flag of the respective Member State.

1.4.By way of derogation from points 1.1 and 1.2, Community fishing vessels with an overall length of less than 12 metres and fishing within the territorial sea shall be permitted to retain on board and land up to 20 kg or 10 % cod by live weight, whatever is the higher, when fishing with gillnets, entangling nets and/or trammel nets with a mesh size equal to or greater than 110 mm.

1.5.When fishing with drift lines within the periods and on the days set out in points 1.1 and 1.2, no cod shall be retained on board.

ANNEX III

TRANSITIONAL TECHNICAL AND CONTROL MEASURES

1. Restrictions on fishing