Regulation (EU) 2021/56 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 January 2021 laying down management, conservation and control measures applicable in the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Convention area and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 520/2007

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),

Whereas:

(1) The objective of the Common Fisheries Policy, as set out in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), is to ensure an exploitation of marine biological resources that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions.

(2) By means of Council Decision 98/392/EC (4), the Union approved the United Nations Convention of 10 December 1982 on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement for the Implementation of that Convention relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (5), which contain principles and rules with regard to the conservation and management of the living resources of the sea. In the framework of its wider international obligations, the Union participates in efforts made in international waters to conserve fish stocks.

(3) By means of Council Decision 2006/539/EC (6), the Union approved 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 Convention’).

(4) The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) has the authority to adopt decisions (‘Resolutions’) to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the fishery resources in the Convention area. Resolutions are binding for the Contracting Parties. Resolutions are essentially addressed to the Contracting Parties to the Convention, but also contain obligations for private operators (e.g. masters of vessels). Resolutions enter into force 45 days following their adoption and, in respect of the Union, they must be implemented into Union law as soon as possible.

(5) By means of Council Decision 2005/938/EC (7), the Union approved the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (‘the Agreement’), which established the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (IDCP).

(6) Under Article XIV of the Agreement, the IATTC is to have an integral role in coordinating the implementation of the Agreement and in implementing the measures that will be adopted within the framework of the IATTC.

(7) Within the IDCP, the Meeting of the Parties is responsible for the adoption of measures designed to progressively reduce incidental dolphin mortality in the tuna purse seine fishery in the Agreement Area to levels approaching zero, through the setting of annual limits. Such measures become binding upon the Union.

(8) The most recent implementation of the Resolutions was carried out through Council Regulation (EC) No 520/2007 (8).

(9) Taking into consideration that Resolutions are likely to be amended at the annual meetings of the IATTC, and in order to swiftly incorporate them into Union law, to reinforce the level playing field and further support the long-term sustainable management of the stocks, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the following aspects: the technical specifications for shark lines, closure periods, fish-aggregating devices (FADs) reporting timelines, provisions concerning design and deployment of FADs, data collection deadlines, areas and mitigation measures for the protection of seabirds, scientific observer coverage, information related to the Regional Vessel Register, reference to table for provision of data for the logbooks and unloading records, the bigeye tuna statistical document, several reporting deadlines and the turtle mortality guidelines. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (9). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(10) The delegation of powers provided for in this Regulation should be without prejudice to the implementation of future Resolutions into Union law through the ordinary legislative procedure.

(11) Since this Regulation implements all IATTC measures, Article 3(3), Article 4(3) and Title IV of Regulation (EC) No 520/2007 should be deleted,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

General Provisions

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down management, conservation and control measures relating to fishing in the area covered under the Convention and with respect to stocks of tunas and tuna-like species, other species of fish taken by vessels fishing for tunas and tuna-like species and species belonging to the same ecosystem that are affected by fishing for, or dependent on or associated with, the fish stocks covered by the Convention.

Article 2

Scope

Article 3

Definitions

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

(1) ‘the Convention’ means 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;

(2) ‘the Convention area’ means the geographical area to which the Convention applies as described in Article III of the Convention;

(3) ‘IATTC species’ means stocks of tunas and tuna-like species and other species of fish taken by vessels fishing for tunas and tuna-like species in the Convention area;

(4) ‘Union fishing vessel’ means any vessel flying the flag of a Member State, used or intended for use for the purposes of commercial exploitation of fishery resources, including support vessels, fish processing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and carrier vessels equipped for the transportation of fishery products, except container vessels;

(5) ‘Contracting Party’ means the contracting parties to the Convention;

(6) ‘purse seine’ means any encircling net the bottom of which is drawn together by means of a purse line at the bottom of the net, which passes through a series of rings along the ground rope, enabling the net to be pursed and closed;

(7) ‘tropical tunas’ means bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna and skipjack tuna;

(8) ‘data buoys’ means floating devices, either drifting or anchored, that are deployed by governmental or recognised scientific organisations or entities for the purpose of electronically collecting environmental data, and not in support of fishing activities, and which have been notified to the IATTC Secretariat;

(9) ‘fish-aggregating device’ or ‘FAD’ means anchored, drifting, floating or submerged objects deployed or tracked by vessels, including through the use of radio or satellite buoys, for the purpose of aggregating target tuna species for purse seine fishing operations;

(10) ‘interaction’ with data buoys includes, but is not limited to, encircling the buoy with fishing gear, tying up or attaching the vessel, fishing gear, or any part or portion of the vessel, to a data buoy, or cutting its anchor line;

(11) ‘operator’ means the natural or legal person who operates or holds any undertaking carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of production, processing, marketing, distribution and retail chains of fisheries and aquaculture products;

(12) ‘SAC’ means the Scientific Advisory Committee established under Article XI of the Convention;

(13) ‘transhipment’ means the unloading of all or any fisheries products on board a vessel to another vessel;

(14) ‘Regional Vessel Register’ means the vessel register of the IATTC;

(15) ‘Resolution’ means the binding measures adopted by the IATTC under Article VII of the Convention;

(16) ‘IATTC transhipment declaration form’ means the document contained in Annex 2 to Resolution C-12-07;

(17) ‘observer’ means a person who is authorised and certified by a Member State or Contracting Party to observe, monitor and collect information on board fishing vessels;

(18) ‘longline’ means a fishing gear which comprises a main line carrying numerous hooks on branch lines (snoods) of variable length and spacing depending on target species;

(19) ‘shark lines’ means individual lines attached to the float line or to the floats directly, and used to target sharks, as depicted in Figure 1 of Resolution C-16-05;

(20) ‘large circle hook’ means a hook with the point turned perpendicularly back to the shank to form a generally circular or oval shape, and the point of the hook not offset more than 10 degrees;

(21) ‘the Agreement’ means the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (AIDCP);

(22) ‘sealed wells’ means any space on board a vessel, intended for the freezing, maintenance or storage of fish, access to which has been blocked to prevent its use for those purposes;

(23) ‘WCPFC’ means the Fisheries Commission for the Western and Central Pacific Ocean established under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (14);

(24) ‘overlap area’ means the area of overlapping competence between the IATTC and WCPFC geographical areas. That area is the part of the Pacific Ocean bounded by the following lines: the 50°S parallel from its intersection with meridian 150°W until the intersection with meridian 130°W, and the 4°S parallel from its intersection with meridian 150°W until the intersection with meridian 130°W.

CHAPTER II

Conservation and Management Measures

Article 4

Closure periods for purse seine vessels for tropical tunas

(a) inform the Commission by 15 June each year of which of the two closure periods from 29 July to 8 October, or from 9 November to 19 January, shall be applicable to their vessels. The Commission shall notify the IATTC Secretariat of the applicable period of closure by 15 July each year;

(b) inform all interested parties in its tuna industry of the closure;

(c) inform the Commission by 15 June each year that these steps have been taken;

(d) ensure that for the entire duration of the closure all purse seine vessels that fly its flag do not fish in the Convention area.

majeure. The request shall be sent to the Commission at the latest two weeks after the cessation of the cause of the force majeure. The Commission shall assess and, where applicable, forward the request to the IATTC Secretariat for consideration by the IATTC at the latest one month after the cessation of the cause of the force majeure.

(a) in the event that the vessel has not observed a closure period in the same year where the cause of the force majeure occurred, the vessel shall observe a reduced closure period of 40 consecutive days in one of the two closure periods of that year instead of the full closure set out in point (a) of paragraph 1 and the Commission shall immediately notify the IATTC Secretariat of the chosen period of closure; or

(b) in the event that the vessel has already observed a closure period in the same year during which the cause of the force majeure occurred, it shall observe a reduced closure period of 40 consecutive days the following year in one of the two closure periods for that year, to be notified to the Commission no later than 15 July of that year.

Article 5

Prohibition of fishing on data buoys

Article 6

Fish-aggregating devices (FADs)

(a) position of the FAD;

(b) date and hour of deployment of the FAD;

(c) IATTC FAD identification (i.e. FAD marking or beacon identification; type of buoy; or any information allowing identification of the owner);

(d) FAD type (such as anchored FAD, drifting natural FAD, drifting artificial FAD);

(e) FAD design characteristics (dimension and material of the floating part and of the underwater hanging structure);

(f) type of activity (set, deployment, hauling, retrieving, loss, intervention on electronic equipment, etc.);

(g) if the activity is a set, the results of the set in terms of catch and bycatch; and

(h) characteristics of any attached buoy or positioning equipment (positioning system, whether equipped with sonar, etc.).

Article 7

Transhipments in port

All transhipments in the Convention area of IATTC species shall take place in port.

CHAPTER III

Protection of marine species

Section 1

Elasmobranch species

Article 8

Oceanic whitetip sharks

Article 9

Mobulid rays