Regulation (EU) 2022/2056 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 laying down conservation and management measures applicable in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries 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) An objective of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), as set out in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), is to ensure the exploitation of living aquatic resources in a way that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions.

(2) The Union has, by means of Council Decision 98/392/EC (4), approved the United Nations Convention of 10 December 1982 on the Law of the Sea and has, by means of Council Decision 98/414/EC (5), ratified the Agreement on the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, 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 and strives to strengthen global ocean governance and to promote sustainable fisheries management.

(3) By means of Council Decision 2005/75/EC (6), the European Community approved its accession to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (the ‘Convention’), that establishes the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

(4) The WCPFC has the authority to adopt legally binding decisions (‘Conservation and Management Measures’ or ‘CMM’) for the conservation of fisheries resources under its purview. Those decisions are mainly addressed to the contracting parties to the Convention, but also contain obligations for the operators (for instance, masters of fishing vessels).

(5) Upon their entry into force, the CMMs are binding on all contracting parties to the Convention, including the Union.

(6) While relevant key provisions of the CMMs are implemented on an annual basis in the context of the fishing opportunities Regulation, the remaining provisions were last implemented under Title V of Council Regulation (EC) No 520/2007 (7). It is therefore necessary to ensure that the CMM adopted by the WCPFC are implemented into Union law fully and in a timely manner and are, therefore, uniformly and effectively implemented within the Union, and give clarity and predictability to operators of Union fishing vessels.

(7) Pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, Union activities in international fisheries organisations are to be based on the best available scientific advice so as to ensure that fishery resources are managed in accordance with the objectives of the CFP, in particular to ensure that the exploitation of living marine biological resources is environmentally sustainable in the long-term and restores and maintains populations of harvested species above levels which can produce the maximum sustainable yield, to provide conditions for an economically viable and competitive fishing capture and processing industry and for land-based fishing-related activity and to contribute to the availability of sustainable food supplies.

(8) In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/473 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8), the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) is, at the Commission’s request, to assist the Union and the Member States in their relationship with third countries and regional international fisheries organisations of which the Union is a member. In line with that Regulation, when needed for the implementation of Union obligations, EFCA is, at the request of the Commission, to coordinate control and inspection activities by Member States on the basis of international control and inspection programmes, which can include programmes implemented in WCPFC CMMs. EFCA may draw up, in concert with the Member States concerned, joint operational inspection and surveillance programmes for that purpose by establishing joint deployment plans. It is therefore appropriate to adopt provisions in this Regulation that include EFCA, when designated by the Commission as the body designated by the Commission that receives from Member States, and transmits to the WCPFC Secretariat, information relating to control and inspection, such as at sea inspection reports and relevant notifications under the WCPFC Regional Observer Programme (‘ROP’).

(9) Taking into consideration that CMMs are likely to be amended further in the future at the WCPFC’s annual meetings, in order to swiftly implement those CMMs 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: vessel information submission, Vessel Monitoring Scheme (‘VMS’) requirements, the percentage of observer coverage scheme under the ROP, the rights and obligations of observers, the rights and obligations of vessel operators, masters and crews, reporting deadlines and Annexes I to VI, covering bird mitigation measures, markings of and other technical specifications for vessels, minimum standards for Automatic Location Communicators used in the WCPFC VMS, the WCPFC Transhipment Declaration and the depiction of shark lines. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are 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 delegated powers provided for in this Regulation should not affect the implementation into Union law of future changes to CMMs under the ordinary legislative procedure.

(11) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10), and delivered formal comments on 14 June 2021. Personal data processed in the framework of this Regulation should be treated in accordance with the applicable provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. In order to ensure the fulfilment of obligations under this Regulation, the personal data should be stored for a period of 10 years. In the event that the personal data in question are needed for the follow-up on an infringement, an inspection or judicial or administrative procedures, it is possible to store those data for a period exceeding 10 years, but no longer than 20 years.

(12) Article 4(4) and Article 28 of Regulation (EC) No 520/2007 should be deleted as this Regulation implements all WCPFC measures,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

General Provisions

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down management and conservation measures relating to fishing in the area covered by the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, to which the Union has acceded pursuant to Decision 2005/75/EC, and with respect to the species of fish under the purview of that Convention.

Article 2

Scope

This Regulation applies to Union fishing vessels carrying out fishing in the Convention Area.

Article 3

Definitions

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

(1) ‘the Convention’ means the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, as amended from time to time;

(2) ‘the Convention Area’ means the area to which the Convention applies as described in Article 3(1) thereof;

(3) ‘WCPFC’ means the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission established under the Convention;

(4) ‘Union fishing vessel’ means any vessel flying the flag of a Member State, used or intended for use for the purpose of fishing, including support ships, carrier vessels and any other vessel directly involved in such fishing;

(6) ‘CMM’ means the applicable Conservation and Management Measures adopted by the WCPFC;

(7) ‘fishing opportunities’ means fishing quotas, fishing effort allocated to a Member State or closure periods, as provided for in a Union legal act in force for the Convention Area;

(9) ‘fish aggregating device‘ or ‘FAD’ means any object or group of objects, of any size, that has or has not been deployed, that is living or non-living, including, but not limited to, buoys, floats, netting, webbing, plastics, bamboo, logs and whale sharks floating on or near the surface of the water that fish may associate with;

(10) ‘shallow-set’ means fisheries in which the majority of hooks are set at a depth shallower than 100 metres;

(11) ‘Record’ means the WCPFC Record of Fishing Vessels;

(12) ‘WIN’ means the WCPFC identification number;

(13) ‘VMS’ means a Vessel Monitoring System;

(14) ‘ROP’ means the Regional Observer Programme established by the WCPFC to collect verified catch data, other scientific data and additional information related to the fishery in the Convention Area, and to monitor the implementation of the CMMs;

(15) ‘instrumented buoy’ is a buoy with a clearly marked reference number allowing it to be identified and which is equipped with a satellite-tracking system to monitor its position;

(16) ‘data buoy’ is a floating device, either drifting or anchored, that is deployed by governmental or recognised scientific organisations or entities for the purpose of electronically collecting and measuring environmental data, and not for the purpose of fishing activities;

(17) ‘WCPFC Transhipment Declaration’ means a document containing the information set out in Annex IV;

(18) ‘Eastern High Seas Pocket’ means the area of high seas bounded by the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Cook Islands to the west, French Polynesia to the east and Kiribati to the north with the geographical coordinates and as shown on the map set out in Annex V;

(19) ‘mobulid rays’ means species of the family Mobulidae, which includes manta rays and mobula rays;

(20) ‘automatic location communicator’ or ‘ALC’ means a near real-time satellite position fixing transmitter;

(21) ‘discards’ means catches that are returned to the sea;

(22) ‘authorised inspector’ means an inspector of a contracting party to the Convention whose identity has been communicated to the WCPFC;

(23) ‘authorised Union inspector’ means a Union inspector whose identity has been communicated to the WCPFC in accordance with any act adopted pursuant to Article 79(7) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (12).

Article 4

Authorisations

(a) the specific areas, species and time periods for which the authorisation is valid;

(b) the activities which the Union fishing vessel is permitted to carry out;

(c) a prohibition on fishing, retention on board, transhipment or landing by the Union fishing vessel in areas under the jurisdiction of another State except pursuant to any licence, permit or authorisation that is required by such other State;

(d) a requirement that the Union fishing vessel keeps on board the authorisation issued pursuant to this paragraph, or a certified copy thereof, and any licence, permit or authorisation, or a certified copy thereof, issued by a coastal State, as well as a valid certificate of vessel registration.

CHAPTER II

Conservation and Management Measures

Article 5

Catch retention in the tropical tuna purse seine fishery

(a) where, in the final set of a trip, there is insufficient storage space to accommodate all fish caught in that set; in which case, the excess fish caught in that last set may be transferred to and retained on board another purse seine vessel, provided that this is not prohibited under applicable law;

(b) where the fish are unfit for human consumption; and

(c) where a serious malfunction of equipment occurs.

(a) the master and crew attempt to release the fish alive as soon as possible; and

(b) no further fishing is undertaken after the discard until the fish on board the fishing vessel have been landed or transhipped.

(a) name, flag and WIN of the Union fishing vessel and name and nationality of the master;

(b) licence number;

(c) name of the observer on board;

(d) date, time and location (latitude/longitude) of discarding;

(e) date, time, location (latitude/longitude) and type (drifting FAD, anchored FAD, free school, etc.) of the set;

(f) reason that the fish were discarded, including a statement of retrieval status if the fish were discarded because they were unfit for human consumption;

(g) estimated tonnage and species composition of discarded fish;

(h) estimated tonnage and species composition of retained fish from that set;

(i) if the fish were discarded in accordance with paragraph 3, a statement that no further fishing will be undertaken until the catch on board has been unloaded; and

(j) any other information deemed relevant by the master of the Union fishing vessel.

Article 6

Monitoring and control in the tropical tuna purse seine fishery

(a) on the high seas;

(b) on the high seas and in waters under the jurisdiction of one or more coastal States; or

(c) in waters under the jurisdiction of two or more coastal States.

Article 7

FADs and instrumented buoys in the tropical tuna purse seine fishery

(a) if the floating or raft part (flat or rolled structure) of the FAD is covered with a mesh net, it shall have a stretched mesh size of less than 7 cm and the mesh net shall be well wrapped around the whole raft so that there is no netting hanging below the FAD when it is deployed;

(b) if a mesh net is used, it shall have a stretched mesh size of less than 7 cm or be tied tightly in bundles or ‘sausages’ with enough weight at the end to keep the netting taut down in the water column. Alternatively, a single weighted panel of less than 7 cm stretched mesh size net or a solid sheet (such as canvas or nylon) may be used.