Council Regulation (EU) No 39/2013 of 21 January 2013 fixing for 2013 the fishing opportunities available to EU vessels for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks which are not subject to international negotiations or agreements

COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 39/2013 of 21 January 2013 fixing for 2013 the fishing opportunities available to EU vessels for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks which are not subject to international negotiations or agreements

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

The fishing opportunities referred to in paragraph 1 shall include:

(a) catch limits for the year 2013;

(b) fishing effort limits for the period from 1 February 2013 to 31 January 2014.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation shall apply to EU vessels.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(a) 'EU vessel' means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union;

(b) 'EU waters' means waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States with the exception of waters adjacent to the overseas countries and territories listed in Annex II to the Treaty;

(c) 'total allowable catch' (TAC) means the quantity that can be taken and landed from each fish stock each year;

(d) 'quota' means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union or a Member State;

(e) 'international waters' means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State;

(f) 'mesh size' means the mesh size of fishing nets as determined in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 517/2008 (¹);

(g) 'EU fishing fleet register' means the register set up by the Commission in accordance with Article 15(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002;

(h) 'fishing logbook' means the logbook referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(i) 'analytical assessments' means a quantitative evaluation of trends in a given stock, based on data about the stock’s biology and exploitation, which scientific review has indicated to be of sufficient quality to provide scientific advice on options for future catches.

Article 4

Fishing zones

For the purposes of this Regulation the following zone definitions shall apply:

(a) ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) zones are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 218/2009 (²);

(b) 'Skagerrak' means the geographical area bounded on the west by a line drawn from the Hanstholm lighthouse to the Lindesnes lighthouse and on the south by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from this point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast;

(c) 'Kattegat' means the geographical area bounded on the north by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from this point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast and on the south by a line drawn from Hasenøre to Gnibens Spids, from Korshage to Spodsbjerg and from Gilbjerg Hoved to Kullen;

(d) 'Functional Unit 16 of ICES Subarea VII' means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W, 53° 30′ N 11° 00′ W, 51° 30′ N 11° 00′ W, 51° 30′ N 13° 00′ W, 51° 00′ N 13° 00′ W, 51° 00′ N 15° 00′ W, 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W;

(e) 'Gulf of Cádiz' means the geographical area of ICES division IXa east of longitude 7° 23′ 48″ W;

(f) CECAF (Committee for Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 (³).

TITLE II

FISHING OPPORTUNITIES

Article 5

TACs and allocations

The TACs for EU vessels in EU waters or in certain non-EU waters and the allocation of such TACs among Member States, and the conditions functionally linked thereto, where appropriate, are set out in Annex I.

Article 6

TACs to be determined by Member States

The TACs to be determined by a Member State shall:

(a) be consistent with the principles and rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular the principle of sustainable exploitation of the stock; and

(b) result: (i) if analytical assessments are available, in the exploitation of the stock consistent with maximum sustainable yield from 2015 onwards, with as high a probability as possible; (ii) if analytical assessments are unavailable or incomplete, in the exploitation of the stock consistent with the precautionary approach to fisheries management.

By 15 March 2013, each Member State concerned shall submit to the Commission the following information:

(a) the TACs adopted;

(b) the data collected and assessed by the Member State concerned on which the TACs adopted are based;

(c) details on how the TACs adopted comply with paragraph 2.

Article 7

Additional allocations for vessels participating in trials on fully documented fisheries

The additional allocation referred to in paragraph 1 shall comply with the following conditions:

(a) the vessel makes use of close circuit television cameras (CCTV) associated to a system of sensors (jointly referred to as "the CCTV system") to record all on board fishing and processing activities;

(b) the additional allocation granted to an individual vessel that participates in trials on fully documented fisheries shall not exceed any of the following limits: (i) 75 % of the discards of the stock, as estimated by the relevant Member State, produced by the type of vessel to which the individual vessel that has been granted the additional allocation belongs. (ii) 30 % of the vessel’s individual allocation prior to participating in the trials.

(c) all catches by the vessel from the stock subject to the additional allocation, including fish that are under minimum landing size as defined in Annex XII of Regulation (EC) No 850/98, shall be counted against the individual allocation of the vessel, as resulting from any additional allocation granted under this Article.

(d) once the individual allocation for any stock subject to the additional allocation has been fully utilised by a vessel, the vessel in question must cease all fishing activity in the relevant TAC area.

(e) in respect of the stocks for which this Article may be used, the Member States may allow transfers of the individual allocation or any part thereof from vessels not participating in the fully documented fisheries trials to vessels participating in those trials provided that it can be demonstrated that discards by the non-participating vessels do not increase.

Notwithstanding point (i) of point (b) of paragraph 3, a Member State may exceptionally grant to a vessel flying its flag an additional allocation exceeding 75 % of the estimated discards of the stock produced by the type of vessel to which the individual vessel that has been granted the additional allocation belongs, provided that:

(a) the rate of stock discards, as estimated for the relevant type of vessel, is less than 10 %;

(b) the inclusion of that type of vessel is important to evaluate the potential of the CCTV system for control purposes;

(c) an overall limit of 75 % of the estimated stock discards produced by all vessels participating in the trials is not exceeded.

Prior to granting the additional allocation referred to in paragraphs 1 to 6, a Member State shall submit to the Commission the following information:

(a) the list of vessels flying its flag and participating in trials on fully documented fisheries;

(b) the specifications of the remote electronic monitoring equipment installed on board those vessels;

(c) the capacity, type and specification of gears used by those vessels;

(d) the estimated discards for each type of vessel participating in the trials;

(e) the amount of catches of the stock subject to the relevant TAC made in 2012 by the vessels participating in the trials.

Article 8

Conditions for landing catches and by-catches

Fish from stocks for which TACs are established shall be retained on board or landed only if:

(a) the catches have been taken by vessels flying the flag of a Member State having a quota and that quota is not exhausted; or

(b) the catches consist of a share in a EU quota which has not been allocated by quota among Member States, and that EU quota has not been exhausted.

Article 9

Fishing effort limits

From 1 February 2013 to 31 January 2014, the fishing effort measures laid down in:

(a) Annex IIA, shall apply for the management of cod stocks in the Kattegat, ICES divisions VIIa and VIa, and EU waters of ICES division Vb;

(b) Annex IIB, shall apply for the recovery of hake and Norway lobster in ICES divisions VIIIc and IXa, with the exception of the Gulf of Cádiz;

(c) Annex IIC, shall apply for the management of the sole stock in ICES division VIIe.

Article 10

Special provisions on allocations of fishing opportunities

The allocation of fishing opportunities among Member States as set out in this Regulation shall be without prejudice to:

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

(b) reallocations made pursuant to Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 or pursuant to Article 10(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008 (⁴);

(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 Articles 37, 105, 106 and 107 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

Article 11

Closed fishing season

For the purposes of this Article, the Porcupine Bank shall comprise the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

Article 12

Prohibitions

It shall be prohibited for EU vessels to fish for, to retain on board, to tranship or to land the following species:

(a) basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) and white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) in all waters;

(b) porbeagle (Lamna nasus) in all waters, except where it is provided otherwise in Annex I Part B;

(c) angel shark (Squatina squatina) in EU waters;

(d) common skate (Dipturus batis) in EU waters of ICES division IIa and ICES subareas III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X;

(e) undulate ray (Raja undulata) and white skate (Raja alba) in EU waters of ICES subareas VI, VII, VIII, IX and X;

(f) guitarfishes (Rhinobatidae) in EU waters of ICES subareas I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XII;

(g) giant manta ray (Manta birostris) in all waters.

Article 13

Data transmission

When, pursuant to Articles 33 and 34 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, Member States submit to the Commission data relating to landings of quantities of stocks caught, they shall use the stock codes set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

TITLE III

FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 14

Committee procedure

Article 15

Entry into force and application

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

It shall apply from 1 January 2013.

However, Article 9 shall apply from 1 February 2013.

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

LIST OF ANNEXES

ANNEX I

TACs APPLICABLE TO EU VESSELS IN AREAS WHERE TACs EXIST BY SPECIES AND BY AREA

PART A

General provisions

The tables in Part B of this Annex set out the TACs and quotas (in tonnes live weight, except where otherwise specified) by stock, and conditions functionally linked thereto, where appropriate.

All fishing opportunities set out in this Annex shall be subject to the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, and in particular Articles 33 and 34 of that Regulation.

The references to fishing zones are references to ICES zones, unless otherwise specified.Within each area, fish stocks are referred to following the alphabetical order of the Latin names of the species. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following comparative table of Latin names and common names is provided:

The following comparative table of common names and Latin names is provided exclusively for explanatory purposes:

PART B

Kattegat, ICES subareas I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII and XIV, EU waters of CECAF, French Guiana waters

ANNEX IIA

FISHING EFFORT FOR VESSELS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF COD STOCKS IN THE KATTEGAT, ICES DIVISIONS VIa AND VIIa AND EU WATERS OF ICES DIVISION Vb

1. Scope

1.1.This Annex shall apply to EU vessels carrying on board or deploying any of the gears referred to in point 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 and present in any of the geographical areas specified in point 2 of this Annex.

1.2.This Annex shall not apply to vessels of less than 10 metres’ length overall. Those vessels shall not be required to carry fishing authorisations issued in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009. Member States concerned shall assess the fishing effort of those vessels by effort groups to which they belong, using appropriate sampling methods. During 2013, the Commission shall seek scientific advice for evaluating the effort deployment of those vessels, with a view to their future inclusion into the effort regime.

2. Regulated gears and geographical areas

For the purposes of this Annex, the gear groupings referred to in point 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 ("regulated gear") and the groupings of geographical areas referred to in points 2(a), 2(c) and 2(d) of that Annex shall apply.

3. Authorisations

If a Member State deems so appropriate in order to reinforce the sustainable implementation of this effort regime, it shall not issue an authorisation for fishing with a regulated gear in any of the geographical areas to which this Annex applies by any of vessels flying its flag which has no record of such fishing activity, unless it ensures that equivalent capacity, measured in kilowatts, is prevented from fishing in that area.

4. Maximum allowable fishing effort

4.1.The maximum allowable effort referred to in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 for the 2013 management period, i.e. from 1 February 2013 to 31 January 2014, for each of the effort groups of each Member State is set out in Appendix 1 to this Annex.

4.2.The maximum levels of annual fishing effort set in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1954/2003 (⁵) shall not affect the maximum allowable fishing effort set in this Annex.

5. Management

5.1.Member States shall manage the maximum allowable effort in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 4 and Articles 13 to 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 and Articles 26 to 35 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

5.2.A Member State may establish management periods for allocating all or parts of the maximum allowable effort to individual vessels or groups of vessels. In such case, the number of days or hours for which a vessel may be present within the area during a management period shall be fixed at the discretion of the Member State concerned. During any such management periods, the Member State concerned may reallocate effort between individual vessels or groups of vessels.

5.3.If a Member State authorises vessels flying its flag to be present within an area by hours, it shall continue measuring the consumption of days in accordance with the conditions referred to in point 5.1. Upon request by the Commission, the Member State concerned shall demonstrate its precautionary measures taken to avoid an excessive consumption of effort within the area due to a vessel terminating presences in the area before the end of a 24-hour period.

6. Fishing effort report

Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 shall apply to vessels falling under the scope of this Annex. The geographical area referred to in that Article shall be understood, for the purpose of cod management, as each of the groupings of geographical areas referred to in point 2 of this Annex.

7. Communication of relevant data

Member States shall transmit to the Commission the data on fishing effort deployed by their fishing vessels in accordance with Articles 33 and 34 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009. These data shall be transmitted via the Fisheries Data Exchange System or any future data collection system implemented by the Commission.

Appendix 1 to Annex IIA

Maximum allowable fishing effort in kilowatt days