6.

(a) The maximum number of days in any calendar month for which a vessel may be present within the area and absent from port having carried on board any one of the fishing gear referred to in point 4 is shown in Table I. Table I Maximum days present within the area and absent from port by fishing gear Area defined in point Grouping of fishing gear referred to in point 4a 4b 4c 4d 4e 4f Kattegat, Skagerrak and North Sea, West of Scotland, Eastern Channel, Irish Sea 10 14 14 17 22 20 (b) A Member State may aggregate the days present within the area and absent from port in Table I within management periods of up to eleven calendar months. Member States shall notify the Commission of their intention to aggregate management periods before the beginning of any aggregated period. (c) An additional number of days on which a vessel may be present within the area and absent from port when carrying on board any of the gear referred to in point 4 may be allocated to Member States by the Commission on the basis of the achieved results of decommissioning programmes that have taken place since 1 January 2002. Member States wishing to benefit from such allocations shall submit a request to the Commission with reports containing the details of their completed decommissioning programmes. On the basis of such a request the Commission, following consultation with Member States, may amend the number of days defined in point (a) for that Member State. (d) Derogations from the number of days present within the area and absent from port shown in Table I may be allocated to vessels by Member States under the conditions shown in Table II. Member States wishing to apply this higher allocation of days shall notify the Commission with details of the vessels that will benefit and with details of their track records at least two weeks before the higher allocation of days are to be granted. Table II Derogations from days present within the area and absent from port in Table I and associated conditions Area Defined in point 2 Gear defined in point 4 2002 vessel track record (1) Days 2(a) 4(a), 4(e) Less than 5 % of each of cod, sole and plaice no days restriction (3) 2(a) 4(a), 4(b) Less than 5 % cod 100 to < 120 mm up to 14 ≥ 120 mm up to 15 2(a) Kattegat (ICES Division IIIa south), North Sea 4(c) gear of mesh size equal to or greater than 220 mm Less than 5 % cod and more than 5 % of turbot and lumpfish Up to 16 days 2(a) Eastern channel ICES Division VIId 4(c) gear of mesh size equal to or less than 110 mm Vessels of less than 15 m in length with landings of over 35 % unregulated species and absent from port for no more than 24 hours (2) Up to 20 days If this higher allocation of days is given to a vessel, as a result of its low percentage track record of catch of certain species, that vessel shall not at any time retain more than the percentage of those species on board as shown in Table II. When this condition is not met by a vessel, that vessel shall with immediate effect no longer be entitled to the additional days. (e) Upon the request of a Member State the Commission may allocate a derogation under the first line in Table II in respect of the saithe fishery without the requirement for a track record in previous years of fishing with less than 5 % of each of cod, sole and plaice. Along with its request the Member State shall submit details of the vessels that would benefit, with evidence of their quota holding and planned activity. The request shall be submitted to the Commission at least 4 weeks before the beginning of the first management period in which the days are to be allocated. Any vessel allocated extra days under this provision may not at any time retain on board more than 5 % of each of cod, sole and plaice. Inspection and surveillance at sea and in port by the competent authorities shall be undertaken for verification of compliance with the above requirement. Any vessel found to be not complying with the requirement shall with immediate effect no longer be entitled to the additional days. (f) In recognition of the area closure in the Irish Sea for the protection of spawning fish and the assumed reduction in fishing mortality on cod, an additional two days will be available for vessels in groupings of fishing gear 4a and 4b which spend more than half of their allocated days in a given management period fishing in the Irish Sea.