COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 48/1999 of 18 December 1998 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1999 and certain conditions under which they may be fished

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture (1), and in particular Article 8(4) thereof,

Having regard to the 1994 Act of Accession, and in particular Articles 121 and 122 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

(1) Whereas Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 requires the Council to formulate, in the light of the available scientific advice and, in particular, of the report prepared by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries, the measures necessary to ensure the rational and responsible exploitation of resources on a sustainable basis;

(2) Whereas a management regime making full use of the new management possibilities given by Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92, and in particular the management of catch limitations on a pluriannual and multispecies basis, cannot yet be achieved, due to the need to put into force certain measures for the control of fisheries, to further develop the appropriate administrative framework for a system of limitation of fishing effort, and to enhance scientific knowledge; whereas, until such a management regime is consolidated, limitation of exploitation rates should be guaranteed by the current TAC system;

(3) Whereas, under the terms of Article 8(4) of Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92, it is incumbent upon the Council, in accordance with Article 4, to establish the total allowable catches (TAC) by fishery or group of fisheries; whereas fishing opportunities should be allocated to Member States in accordance with Article 8(4)(ii) of that Regulation;

(4) Whereas it is necessary to establish the principles and certain procedures of fishery management at the Community level, so that Member States can ensure the management of the vessels flying their flag;

(5) Whereas, in order to ensure effective management of these TACs, the specific conditions under which fishing operations occur should be established;

(6) Whereas, in accordance with the provisions laid down in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 of 6 May 1996 introducing additional conditions for year-to-year management of TACs and quotas (2), it is necessary to indicate which stocks are subject to the various measures fixed therein;

(7) Whereas, in order to ensure a better exploitation of the quotas of herring, anchovy, hake, blue whiting, mackerel and megrim, transfers of a part of the quotas from the zone of allocation to adjacent zones should be allowed;

(8) Whereas, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 2 of the Agreement on fisheries between the European Economic Community, of the one part, and the Government of Denmark and the Home Government of the Faeroe Islands, of the other part (3), the Parties have consulted on their reciprocal fishing rights for 1999; whereas these consultations have been successfully concluded; whereas, as a result, it is possible to fix the TACs, the Community shares and the quotas for certain joint and autonomous stocks, of which part is allocated to the Faeroe Islands;

(9) Whereas, in accordance with the procedure provided in Articles 2 and 7 of the Fisheries Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Kingdom of Norway (4), the Community and Norway have held consultations concerning mutual fishing rights for 1999; whereas these consultations have been successfully concluded and it is therefore possible to fix the TACs, the Community shares and the quotas for joint stocks and, where necessary, for other stocks;

(10) Whereas the International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission has recommended TACs for the stocks of cod, salmon, herring and sprat occurring in the waters of the Baltic Sea and the shares thereof for each contracting party; whereas it is appropriate to implement those recommendations;

(11) Whereas the Community has approved the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which contains principles and rules relating to the conservation and management of the living resources of the sea;

(12) Whereas, in the framework of its wider international obligations, the Community participates in efforts to conserve fish stocks arising in international waters;

(13) Whereas, pursuant to Article 122 of the 1994 Act of Accession, the conditions under which allocations made within the framework of the Accession can be fished will remain identical to those applicable immediately prior to the entry into force of the 1994 Treaty of Accession;

(14) Whereas massive catches of young flatfish can be taken in the Southern North Sea in autumn; whereas protection should be given to these fish, in order to achieve a better exploitation;

(15) Whereas a number of conditions specified in Council Regulation (EC) No 894/97 of 29 April 1997 laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources (5) and Council Regulation (EC) No 88/98 of 18 December 1997 laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources in the waters of the Baltic Sea, the Belts and Sound (6) require temporary derogation for 1999 in order to implement new conditions set out on the basis of recently available scientific advice;

(16) Whereas the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission has recommended certain technical measures for resource conservation to be implemented by its Contracting Parties with effect from 1 January 1999;

(17) Whereas the rebuilding of the stock of herring in the North Sea requires that the special management measures stipulated in Regulation (EC) No 1602/96 (7) should be continued in 1999;

(18) Whereas the conditions defined in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 390/97 of 20 December 1996 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1997 and certain conditions under which they may be fished (8) for fishing for sprat in ICES Division IIIa should be maintained;

(19) Whereas, for imperative reasons of common interest, this Regulation will apply from 1 January 1999,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

This Regulation fixes for 1999, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, total allowable catches (TACs) per stock or group of stocks, the share of these catches available to the Community, the allocation of that share among Member States and the specific conditions under which these stocks may be fished (9).

For the purposes of this Regulation, the Skaggerak, the Kattegat and the North Sea shall be taken as defined in Article 1(4) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 894/97.

Article 2

TACs for stocks or groups of stocks to which Community rules apply and the share of these catches available to the Community are hereby fixed for 1999 as set out in Annex I.

Article 3

TACs for by-catches of herring taken in certain fisheries are hereby fixed for 1999 as set out in Annex II.

Article 4

The allocation among the Member States of the share available to the Community of the TACs mentioned in Article 2 is fixed for 1999, in the form of fish quotas, in Annex I.

This allocation shall be without prejudice to:

- exchanges made pursuant to Article 9(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92,

- reallocations made pursuant to Articles 21(4), 23(1) and 32(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 of 12 October 1993 establishing a control system applicable to the common fisheries policy (10),

- additional landings allowed under the stipulations of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96,

- quantities withheld in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96,

- deductions made pursuant to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96.

Article 5

The stocks which are subject to a precautionary or to an analytical TAC, the stocks to which Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 shall not apply, and the stocks to which Article 5(2) of the same Regulation shall apply, are fixed for 1999 in Annex III.

Article 6

1. It shall be prohibited to retain on board or to land catches from stocks for which TACs or quotas are fixed unless:

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

(ii) the share of the TAC available to the Community (Community share) has not been allocated by quota among Member States and the Community share has not been exhausted; or

(iii) for all species other than herring and mackerel, they are mixed with other species and have been taken with nets whose mesh size is 32 millimetres or less in Regions 1 and 2 or 40 millimetres or less in Region 3 in accordance with Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 894/97 and are not sorted either on board or on landing; or

(iv) for herring, they fall within the conditions set out in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1434/98 of 29 June 1998 specifying conditions under which herring may be landed for industrial purposes other than direct human consumption (11); or

(v) for mackerel, they are mixed with horse-mackerel or pilchard and the mackerel does not exceed 10 % of the total weight of mackerel, horse-mackerel and pilchard on board and the catches are not sorted; or

(vi) they are caught during the course of scientific investigations carried out under Regulation (EC) No 894/97.

All landings shall count against the quota, or, if the Community share has not been allocated between Member States by quotas, against the Community share, except for catches made under the provisions of (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi).

2. Notwithstanding paragraphs 1 and 2, when any of the catch limitations indicated in Annex II to this Regulation are exhausted, it shall be prohibited for vessels operating within the fisheries to which the relevant catch limitations apply to land catches which are unsorted and which contain herring.

3. The determination of the percentage of by-catches and their disposal shall be made in accordance with Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 894/97.

Article 7

As regards the herring stock of the North Sea and of the eastern English Channel, transfers of up to 50 % of the quotas may be effected from ICES Divisions IVc and VIId to ICES Division IVb.

As regards the hake stock in zones IIa (EC zone) and IV (EC zone), Member States having a quota in this zone may, on exhaustion of this quota, make transfers from zones Vb (EC zone), VI, VII, XII and XIV and from zones VIIIa, b and d to zone IIa (EC zone) and IV (EC zone).

However, such transfers must be notified in advance to the Commission.

Article 8

Member States where there occur landings of herring unsorted from the remainder of the catch shall ensure that adequate sampling programmes are in place in order to monitor effectively all landings of by-catches of herring.

It shall be prohibited to land catches of fish containing unsorted herring in harbours where sampling programmes referred to in the first paragraph are not in place.

Article 9

Member States shall adopt special control and management measures and any other measures concerning the capture, sorting or landing of herring taken from the North Sea or from the Skagerrak and Kattegat with a view to ensuring the observance of catch limitations. These measures shall include, in particular:

(i) special control and inspection programmes;

(ii) effort plans, including lists of authorised vessels and, where deemed necessary on the basis of quota exhaustion beyond the level of 70 %, limitations on the activity of authorised vessels;

(iii) control of transhipment and of practices which incur discarding;

(iv) where possible, temporary prohibition of fishing in areas where high by-catch rates of herring, in particular juveniles, are known to occur.

Article 10

Commission inspectors shall, in accordance with Article 29 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 and whenever the Commission deems it necessary for the purposes of this Regulation, carry out independent inspections to verify the implementation by the competent authorities of the sampling programmes and of the detailed measures mentioned in Articles 8 and 9 of this Regulation.

Article 11

The Commission shall prohibit landings of herring if it is deemed that implementation of the measures mentioned in Articles 8 and 9 does not constitute a sufficient guarantee that a strict control of fishing mortality of herring in all fisheries is being achieved.

Article 12

1. All landings of herring caught in ICES areas IIIa, IV and VIId by vessels which carry on board only towed nets of minimum mesh sizes equal to or greater than 32 mm, while taking these catches in these areas, will be counted against a relevant quota as defined in Annex I to this Regulation.

2. All landings of herring caught in ICES areas IIIa, IV and VIId by vessels which carry on board only towed nets of minimum mesh size less than 32 mm, while taking these catches in these areas, will be counted against a relevant quota as defined in Annex II to this Regulation.

3. Herring landed by vessels operating within the conditions defined in paragraph 2 shall not be offered for sale for human consumption.

Article 13

The following temporary provisions relating to technical measures shall apply in 1999:

1. purse seines and marine mammals

Notwithstanding the conditions laid down in Article 10(17) of Regulation (EC) No 894/97, it shall be permitted to undertake encirclements with purse seines on schools or groups of dolphins when aiming to catch tuna, under the conditions agreed within the Agreement for the International Dolphin Conservation Programme, signed in Washington on 15 May 1998, to the following vessels or to any vessel duly authorised to replace a vessel in this list:

- Vessel name: AURORA B; external identification: BI-2-5-97; call sign: EAQT,

- Vessel name: ALBACORA; external identification: CA-3-1099; call sign: EGDY,

- Vessel name: ALBACORA 1; external identification: VI-5-1-96; call sign: EAMB,

- Vessel name: ALBACORA 15; external identification: VI-5-9835; call sign: EDUS,

- Vessel name: ALMIRANTE, external identification: CA-3-1069; call sign: EAYN;

2. sole and fixed gears

Notwithstanding the conditions laid down in Annex V of Regulation (EC) No 894/97, a minimum mesh size of 90 mm shall apply to sole (Solea solea) in ICES Divisions IVc and VIId during 1999;

3. spotted dogfish and fixed gears

Notwithstanding the conditions laid down in Annex V of Regulation (EC) No 894/97, a minimum mesh size of 120 mm shall apply to greater spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus stellaris) and a minimum mesh size of 90 mm shall apply to lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus caniculus) in all waters situated north of latitude 48°N, but excluding waters in ICES Divisions IIIb, IIIc and IIId;

4. closed area for fishing for herring in the Irish Sea

Notwithstanding the conditions laid down in Article 7(6)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 894/97, fishing for herring shall be prohibited from 21 September through 15 November in that part of the Irish Sea (ICES Division VIIa) within the area bounded by the coast of the Isle of Man and straight lines drawn consecutively between the following coordinates:

- latitude 54°20,0'N, longitude 004°25,5'W and latitude 54°20,0N, longitude 003°57,2'W,

- latitude 54°20,0'N, longitude 003°57,2'W and latitude 54°17,5'N, longitude 003°56,8'W,

- latitude 54°17,5'N, longitude 003°56,8'W and latitude 54°14,6'N, longitude 003°57,5'W,

- latitude 54°14,6'N, longitude 003°57,5'W and latitude 54°00,0'N, longitude 004°07,5'W,

- latitude 54°00,0'N, longitude 004°07,5'W and latitude 53°51,5'N, longitude 004°27,8'W,

- latitude 53°51,5'N, longitude 00427,8'W and latitude 53°48,5'N, longitude 004°50,0'W,

- latitude 53°48,5'N, longitude 004°50,0'W and latitude 54°04,0'N, longitude 004°50,0'W;

5. plaice box

Notwithstanding the second subparagraph of Article 10(3)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 894/97, the period of enlargement of the area in which beam trawling is banned shall be from 1 January to 31 December;

6. exit windows in the Baltic Sea

Notwithstanding the conditions set out in Annex V to Regulation (EC) No 88/98, and in order to guarantee the selectivity of the trawls, Danish seines and similar nets with special mesh openings as referred to in Annex IV to the same Regulation, the two models of exit windows described in Annex IV to this Regulation shall be authorised in 1999;

7. summer ban for Baltic cod

Fishing for cod shall be prohibited in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Øresund from 1 July to 20 August inclusive;

8. closure of Bornholm Deep

All fishing shall be prohibited from 15 May to 31 August 1999 within the area bounded by the following coordinates:

- latitude 55°30'N, longitude 15°30'E,

- latitude 55°30'N, longitude 16°10'E,

- latitude 55°15'N, longitude 16°10'E,

- latitude 55°15'N, longitude 15°30'E.

Article 14

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

It shall apply with effect from 1 January 1999.

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

Done at Brussels, 18 December 1998.

For the Council

The President

W. MOLTERER

(1) OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1181/98 (OJ L 164, 9.6.1998, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 115, 9.5.1996, p. 3.

(3) OJ L 226, 29.8.1980, p. 12.

(4) OJ L 226, 29.8.1980, p. 48.

(5) OJ L 132, 23.5.1997, p. 1.

(6) OJ L 9, 15.1.1998, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 198, 8.8.1996, p. 1

(8) OJ L 66, 6.3.1997, p. 1.

(9) The definition of the ICES and CECAF areas referred to in this Regulation is given in Commission Communications 85/C 347/05 (OJ C 347, 31.12.1985, p. 14) and 85/C 335/02 (OJ C 335, 24.12.1985, p. 2) respectively.

(10) OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2205/97 (OJ L 304, 7.11.1997, p. 1).

(11) OJ L 191, 7.7.1998, p. 10.

ANNEX I

TACs by stock and by area for 1999 and the allocation among the Member States of the share available to the Community (in tonnes live weight, except where otherwise specified). All catch limitations set out in this Annex are considered as quotas for the purposes of Article 5 of this Regulation, and shall, therefore, be submitted to the rules set out in Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93, in particular Articles 14 and 15 thereof.

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ANNEX II

Total allowable catch of herring to be landed unsorted for purposes other than human consumption (in tonnes, live weight). All catch limitations set out in this Annex are considered as quotas for the purposes of Article 5 of this Regulation, and shall, therefore, be submitted to the rules set out in Regulation (EC) No 2847/93, in particular Articles 14 and 15 thereof.

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ANNEX III

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ANNEX IV

Exit windows (model 1)

Two exit windows with plastic coated, fully opened diamond meshes shall be attached to the codend of trawls and Danish seines in the code fishery. The mesh opening shall be no less than 105 mm. The exit window shall be attached with a separate piece of netting (between the ordinary diamond meshes and the meshes of the exit window). The mesh size of the separate netting shall be identical to the bar length of the exit window times the square root of two.

The exit window shall be attached on both sides of the codend, and the distance between the rear end of the codend and the window shall be 40 to 50 cm. The length of the window shall be 80 % of the total length of the codend and the height of the window shall be 50 cm (Figure 1). The window shall be mounted in a way that gives an opening between the upper and lower seams of the window of 15 to 20 cm.

Exit windows (model 2)

Identification of the windows

The windows shall be rectangular sections of netting in the codend. There shall be two windows in the codend.

Size of the windows

Each window shall have a minimum width of 45 cm along its entire length. Each window shall have a minimum length of 3,5 m measured along its sides (Figure 2) and the length of the window shall not be less than 80 % of the total length of the codend.

Netting of the windows

The meshes in the windows shall have a minimum size of 105 mm. They shall be square meshes, i.e. all four sides of the window netting will be cut by all bars. The netting shall be mounted such that the bars run parallel and perpendicular to the length of the codend. The window width shall be eight open square meshes.

Location of the windows

The codend shall be divided into upper and lower panels by selvedges running down the port and starboard sides. The two windows shall be located in the lower panel, immediately adjacent to and below the selvedges. The windows shall terminate between 40-50 cm from the codline (Figure 2).

The forward end of the window shall be joined to eight meshes' width of the normal codend netting. One side shall join to the selvedge or be joined immediately adjacent to the selvedge and the other side shall be joined to the normal codend lower panel netting following a straight line of meshes all knots cut.

Mesh size in the whole codend

All parts of the codend shall confirm to a minimum mesh size of 105 mm.

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