Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104 of 19 January 2015 fixing for 2015 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union vessels, in certain non-Union waters, amending Regulation (EU) No 43/2014 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 779/2014

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

The fishing opportunities referred to in paragraph 1 include:

(a) catch limits for the year 2015 and, where specified in this Regulation, for the year 2016;

(b) fishing effort limits for the period from 1 February 2015 to 31 January 2016, except where other periods are established for effort limits in Articles 9, 29 and 31;

(c) fishing opportunities for the period from 1 December 2014 to 30 November 2015 for certain stocks in the CCAMLR Convention Area;

(d) fishing opportunities for certain stocks in the IATTC Convention Area set out in Article 32 for the periods in 2015 and 2016 specified in that provision.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation shall apply to the following vessels:

(a) Union vessels;

(b) third-country vessels in Union waters.

Article 3

Definitions

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

(a) ‘Union vessel’ means a Union fishing vessel as defined in Article 4(1)(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(b) ‘third-country vessel’ means a fishing vessel as defined in Article 4(1)(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, flying the flag of, and registered in, a third country;

(c) ‘Union waters’ means the Union waters as defined in Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(d) ‘international waters’ means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State;

(e) ‘stock’ means the stock as defined in Article 4(1)(14) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(f) ‘total allowable catch’ (TAC) means: (i) in fisheries subject to the landing obligation referred to in Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the quantity that can be caught from each stock each year; (ii) in all other fisheries, the quantity that can be landed from each stock each year;

(g) ‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union, a Member State or a third country;

(h) ‘analytical assessment’ 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;

(i) ‘precautionary approach to fisheries management’, means the precautionary approach to fisheries management as defined in Article 4(1)(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(j) ‘mesh size’ means the mesh size of fishing nets as determined in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 517/2008 (²¹);

(k) ‘Union fishing fleet register’ means the register set up by the Commission in accordance with Article 24(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(l) ‘fishing logbook’ means the logbook referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(m) ‘recreational fisheries’ means non-commercial fishing activities exploiting marine living aquatic resources such as for recreation, tourism or sport.

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 (²²);

(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) ‘Functional Unit 26 of ICES division IXa’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: — 43° 00′ N 8° 00′ W, — 43° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

(f) ‘Functional Unit 27 of ICES division IXa’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions: — 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W, — 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W, — 38° 30′ N 10° 00′ W, — 38° 30′ N 9° 00′ W, — 40° 00′ N 9° 00′ W, — 40° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

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

(h) CECAF (Committee for Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²³);

(i) NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 217/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (²⁴);

(j) ‘SEAFO (South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean (²⁵);

(k) ‘ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (²⁶);

(l) ‘CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in point (a) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 601/2004 (²⁷);

(m) ‘IATTC (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica (‘the Antigua Convention’) (²⁸);

(n) ‘IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (²⁹);

(o) ‘SPRFMO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation) Convention Area’ is the high seas geographical area south of 10° N, north of the CCAMLR Convention Area, east of the SIOFA Convention Area as defined in the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (³⁰), and west of the areas of fisheries jurisdictions of South American States;

(p) ‘the WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (³¹);

(q) ‘high seas of the Bering Sea’ is the geographical area of the high seas of the Bering Sea beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the coastal States of the Bering Sea is measured;

(r) ‘overlap area between IATTC and WCPFC’ is the geographical area defined by the following limits: — longitude 150° W, — longitude 130° W, — latitude 4° S, — latitude 50° S.

TITLE II

FISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNION VESSELS

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 5

TACs and allocations

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 2015, each Member State concerned shall submit the following information to the Commission:

(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

Conditions for landing catches and by-catches

Fish subject to catch limits caught in fisheries not subject to the landing obligation 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 Union quota which has not been allocated by quota among Member States, and that Union quota has not been exhausted.

Article 8

Fishing effort limits

For the periods referred to in Article 1(2)(b), the following fishing effort measures shall apply:

(a) Annex IIA for the management of certain cod, sole, and plaice stocks in the Kattegat, the Skagerrak, that part of ICES division IIIa not covered by the Skagerrak and the Kattegat, ICES subarea IV and ICES divisions VIa, VIIa and VIId and Union waters of ICES divisions IIa and Vb;

(b) Annex IIB 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 for the management of the sole stock in ICES division VIIe.

Article 9

Catch and effort limits for deep-sea fisheries

Article 9a

Measures concerning sea bass

It shall be prohibited for Union vessels to fish, retain on board, relocate, tranship or land quantities exceeding the limits set out in paragraph 2 of sea bass caught in the following areas:

(a) ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIId, VIIe, VIIf and VIIh;

(b) waters within 12 nautical miles from baseline under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in ICES divisions VIIa and VIIg.

For the purposes of paragraph 1, the following catch limits shall apply:

Gear category and code (1)	Maximum catch of sea bass permitted per vessel per calendar month (in kg)
Mid-water or pelagic trawls, including OTM and PTM	1 500
All types of demersal trawls including Danish/Scottish seines, including OTB, OTT, PTB, TBB, SSC, SDN, SPR, SV, SB, SX, TBN, TBS and TB	1 800
All GN, all drift net and fixed (trammel) net fisheries, including GTR, GNS, GND, FYK, FPN and FIX	1 000
All long lines or pole and line or rod and line fisheries, including LHP, LHM, LLD, LL, LTL, LX and LLS	1 300
purse seines, gear codes PS and LA	3 000
(1) As per FAO alpha 3 fishing gear codes.

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 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(b) deductions and reallocations made pursuant to Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(c) reallocations made pursuant to Article 10(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1006/2008;

(d) additional landings allowed under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 and Article 15(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(e) quantities withheld in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 and Article 15(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

(f) deductions made pursuant to Articles 105, 106 and 107 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;

(g) quota transfers and exchanges pursuant to Article 19 of this Regulation;

(h) additional allocations pursuant to Article 14 of this Regulation.

Article 11

Closed fishing seasons

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

Point	Latitude	Longitude
1	52° 27′ N	12° 19′ W
2	52° 40′ N	12° 30′ W
3	52° 47′ N	12° 39,600′ W
4	52° 47′ N	12° 56′ W
5	52° 13,5′ N	13° 53,830′ W
6	51° 22′ N	14° 24′ W
7	51° 22′ N	14° 03′ W
8	52° 10′ N	13° 25′ W
9	52° 32′ N	13° 07,500′ W
10	52° 43′ N	12° 55′ W
11	52° 43′ N	12° 43′ W
12	52° 38,800′ N	12° 37′ W
13	52° 27′ N	12° 23′ W
14	52° 27′ N	12° 19′ W

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, transit through the Porcupine Bank while carrying on board the species referred to in that paragraph, shall be permitted in accordance with Article 50(3), (4) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

The prohibition set out in the first subparagraph shall also apply to third-country vessels authorised to fish for sandeel in Union waters of ICES subarea IV.

Article 11a

Recreational sea bass fisheries in the north-east Atlantic

In recreational fisheries in ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIIa, VIId, VIIe, VIIf, VIIg, VIIh, VIIj and VIIk not more than three specimens of sea bass may be retained per person per day.

Article 12

Prohibitions

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

(a) starry ray (Amblyraja radiata) in Union waters of ICES divisions IIa, IIIa and VIId and ICES subarea IV;

(b) the following species of sawfish in all waters: (i) narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidate); (ii) dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata); (iii) smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata); (iv) largetooth sawfish (Pristis pristis); (v) green sawfish (Pristis zijsron);

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

(d) common skate (Dipturus batis) complex (Dipturus cf. flossada and Dipturus cf. intermedia) in Union waters of ICES division IIa and ICES subareas III, IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X;

(e) tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) when taken with longlines in Union waters of ICES division IIa and subarea IV and in Union and international waters of ICES subareas I, V, VI, VII, VIII, XII and XIV;

(f) smooth lanternshark (Etmopterus pusillus) in Union waters of ICES division IIa and subarea IV and in Union and international waters of ICES subareas I, V, VI, VII, VIII, XII and XIV;

(g) kitefin shark (Dalatias licha), birdbeak dogfish (Deania calcea), leafscale gulper shark (Centrophorus squamosus), great lanternshark (Etmopterus princeps) and Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis) in Union waters of ICES division IIa and subarea IV and in Union and international waters of ICES subareas I and XIV;

(h) porbeagle (Lamna nasus) in all waters;

(i) reef manta ray (Manta alfredi) in all waters;

(j) giant manta ray (Manta birostris) in all waters;

(k) the following species of Mobula rays in all waters: (i) devil fish (Mobula mobular); (ii) lesser Guinean devil ray (Mobula rochebrunei); (iii) spinetail mobula (Mobula japanica); (iv) smoothtail mobula (Mobula thurstoni); (v) longhorned mobula (Mobula eregoodootenkee); (vi) Munk's devil ray (Mobula munkiana); (vii) Chilean devil ray (Mobula tarapacana); (viii) shortfin devil ray (Mobula kuhlii); (ix) lesser devil ray (Mobula hypostoma);

(l) thornback ray (Raja clavata) in Union waters of ICES division IIIa;

(m) Norwegian skate (Raja (Dipturus) nidarosiensis) in Union waters of ICES divisions VIa, VIb, VIIa, VIIb, VIIc, VIIe, VIIf, VIIg, VIIh and VIIk;

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

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

(p) angel shark (Squatina squatina) in Union 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.

CHAPTER II

Additional allocations for vessels participating in trials on fully documented fisheries

Article 14

Additional allocations

Article 15

Conditions for additional allocations

The additional allocation referred to in Article 14 shall comply with the following conditions:

(a) Member States shall ensure detailed and accurate documentation of all fishing trips and adequate capacity and means, such as observers, closed-circuit television (CCTV) and others. In doing so, Member States shall respect the principle of efficiency and proportionality;

(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 Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 (³⁴), shall be counted against the individual allocation of the vessel, as resulting from any additional allocation granted under Article 14 of this Regulation;

(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, Member States may allow transfers of the individual allocation or any part thereof from vessels not participating in trials on fully documented fisheries to vessels participating in those trials provided that it can be demonstrated that discards by the non-participating vessels do not increase.