Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending for the first time Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 fixing for 2001 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where limitations in catch are required

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 fixes, among other stipulations, the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of stocks, applicable in Community waters for 2001. Since the adoption of that regulation, new decisions on fisheries management have been taken:

- Within the framework of the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC), new conservation measures have been recommended for the cod fishery.

- At a special meeting of the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NEAFC), held in 2001, a new quota table for redfish and new measures to protect haddock were adopted.

- At a special meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), held in 2001, new fishing effort limitations have been established for the northern prawn fishery.

- In NEAFC and NAFO, the overlap of the north Atlantic redfish stock between the regulatory area of both organisations has made it necessary to establish a mechanism to ensure coherence between the measures, and their application, between the two areas.

- The definitive TAC for capelin in the North Atlantic in 2001 has been fixed and the definitive Community quota for this stock in the waters of Greenland can therefore be established.

- The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission has adopted, at its annual meeting held in June 2001, catch limitations for yellowfin tuna and a follow up measure for bigeye tuna, to be applied already in 2001.

- Within a total TAC of 220,000 tonnes for Norway pout, the Faroe Islands are entitled to a higher quota than that allocated in Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000. The allocation of that TAC in 2001 should be revised accordingly.

- The biological situation on the blue whiting stock gives reasons for concern, and additional fishing in areas outside national jurisdiction in ICES area II should not be permitted.

- New fishing licences have been allocated in 2001 to Community fishermen in the framework of the bilateral fishing agreement with the Faroe Islands.

This requires mainly the amendment of the annual TAC and quota Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000) as well as the amendment of the regulation on control measures in the NEAFC area (Council Regulation (EC) No 2791/1999).

The Council is requested to adopt this proposal in order to allow fishermen to utilise the new fishing opportunities and to continue fishing under appropriate conditions.

The Commission is requested to approve this proposal and transmit it to the Council for adoption.

Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending for the first time Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 fixing for 2001 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where limitations in catch are required

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, paragraph 4 thereof,

[1] OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission [2],

[2] OJ C , , p. .

Whereas:

(1) In accordance with the Agreed Record between the European Community and the Faroe Islands, the Faroe Islands are entitled to a Norway pout quota higher than that allocated in Coucil Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000. Therefore, the fishing possibilities for 2001 on this stock need to be revised;

(2) A definitive catch limitation for capelin in the North Atlantic has been fixed and, consequently, the definitive Community catch quota for this stock within the waters of Greenland should be fixed;

(3) The area of distribution of redfish in the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) area overlaps with certain areas of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Regulatory Area; it is therefore necessary to introduce a mechanism to consider catches in both areas as part of the same stock, as recommended by NEAFC and NAFO at their meetings in March 2001;

(4) Within the framework of NAFO, new limits on the number of days to fish for northern prawn have been established in March 2001;

(5) The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) adopted, at its annual meeting in June 2001, catch limitations for yellowfin tuna; although the Community is not a member of this organisation, it is necessary to implement those catch limitations to ensure sustainable management of this fish ressource;

(6) In the framework of NEAFC, new protected areas were recommended in March 2001 to protect haddock;

(7) Within the framework of the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission (IBSFC), new technical conservation measures have been recommended in March 2001 for the cod fishery; those recommendations should be implemented by the Community;

(8) In the framework of the fisheries relations between the European Community and the Faroe Islands, certain fishing opportunities have been allocated to Community fishermen;

(9) Agreements have been reached between the European Community, Norway and the Faroe Islands on arrangement of fishing licences;

(10) The biological situation of the blue whiting stock does not allow any additional fishing in areas outside national jurisdiction in ICES area II. Any catches in these areas should be counted against the quotas for ICES area II;

(11) Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 fixing for 2001 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where limitations and catch are required [3] should therefore be amended accordingly.

[3] OJ L 334, 30.12.2000, p. 1

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Council Regulation (EC) No 2848/2000 is modified as follows:

(1) The entry in Annex I to this Regulation shall replace the corresponding entry in Annex Ib.

(2) The entries in Annex II to this Regulation shall replace the corresponding entries in Annex Ic.

(3) Annex Ie is modified as follows:

(i) The entry in Annex III to this Regulation shall replace the corresponding entry.

(ii) The entry in Annex IV to this Regulation shall be added.

(4) The entry in Annex V to this Regulation shall be added in Annex If.

(5) Annex V is modified as follows:

(i) The text under point 1 is replaced by the following:

"Notwithstanding the conditions set out in Annex V of Council 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 of the same Regulation, the two models of exit windows described in Appendix I and the model described in Appendix II to this Annex shall be authorised in 2001".

(ii) A new point 9 shall be inserted with the following text:

"9. Haddock box

All fishing for haddock, except with longlines, shall be prohibited in waters beyond the areas under national jurisdiction of Member States in the box bounded by the following co-ordinates:

Point No Latitude Longitude

1 57°000 15°000

2 57°000 14°700

3 56°575 14°327

4 56°500 14°450

5 56°500 15°000"

(iii) Annex VI to this Regulation shall be added as Appendix II.

(6) The entries in Annex VII to this Regulation shall replace the corresponding entries in Annex VI Part I and Part II.

Article 2

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

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

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President

ANNEX I

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ANNEX II

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ANNEX III

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ANNEX IV

Entry to Annex Ie

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ANNEX V

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ANNEX VI

Appendix II to Annex V.

Specifications of Top Window Codend "BACOMA"

Specification of 120 mm, measured as inner diameter opening, square mesh window in a codend with a 105 mm or larger mesh size in trawls, Danish seines or similar towed nets

The window shall be a rectangular section of netting in the codend. There shall be only one window. The window shall not be obstructed in any way by either internal or external attachments

Size of the codend, extension piece and the rear end of the trawl

The codend shall be constructed of two panels of equal size, joined together by selvedges one on each side.

The carrying on board of a net having more than 100 open diamond meshes in any circumference of the codend, excluding the joining or the selvedges shall be prohibited.

The number of open diamond meshes, excluding those in the selvedges, at any point on any circumference of any extension or lengthening piece shall not be less or more than the maximum number of meshes on the circumference of the front end of the codend stricto sensu and the rear end of the tapered section of the trawl excluding meshes in the selvedges (Figure 1).

Location of the window

The window shall be inserted into the top panel of the codend. The window shall terminate not more than 4 meshes from the codline, inclusive of the hand braided row of meshes through which the codline is passed (Figure 2.).

Size of the window

The width of the window, expressed in number of mesh bars, shall be equal to the number of open diamond meshes in the top panel divided by two. If necessary, it will be allowed to maintain at the most 20% of the number of open diamond meshes in the top panel divided evenly on the both sides of the window panel (Figure 3).

Length of the window shall be at least 3.5 meters.

The netting of the window

The meshes shall have a minimum mesh opening of 120 millimetres. The meshes shall be square meshes i.e. all four sides of the window netting will be cut all bars. The netting shall be mounted such that the bars run parallel and perpendicular to the length of the codend. The netting shall be knotless braided single twine or a netting with similar proven selective properties (stiffness, strengths and stability). The diameter of the single yarn shall be at least 4.9 millimetres.

Other specification

The mounting specifications are defined in Figures 4a-c. The length of the lifting strap shall not be less than 4 m.

Figure 1. A trawl gear can be divided into three different sections according to their shape and function. Trawl body is always a tapered section often between 10 and 40 m long. Extension piece is untapered section normally manufactured of either one or two pieces of 49.5 mesh long nets giving a stretched length between 6 or 12 m. Codend is also an untapered section often made of double twine in order to have a better resistance against heavy wearing. The length of codend is often 49.5 meshes i.e. ca 6 meter although shorter codends (2-4) exists in smaller vessels. The part below lifting strap is called lifting bag.

Figure 2. The distance of window panel from codline is 4 meshes. There are 3.5 diamond meshes in the upper panel and one 0.5 mesh deep hand-braided "codline" row.

Figure 3. Twenty percent of diamond meshes in the upper panel along a perpendicular row running from one selvedge to another may be maintained. For example (like in figure) if the upper panel would be 30 open meshes wide 20% of that would be 6 meshes. Then three open meshes is divided on both sides of the window panel. Consequently the width of the window panel would then become 12 mesh bars (30 - 6 = 24 diamond meshes divided by two is 12 mesh bars).

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Lower panel

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Diamond mesh panel

49 ½ md

105 mm inside

1 row of codline meshes

Figure 4a: Showing the construction of lower panel made of 49.5 meshes deep netting

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Upper panel

(without diamond meshes between selvedge and square mesh panel)

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Joining: 2 diamond meshes/

1 bar in square panel

105 mm inside 16 ½ md

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Joining: 1 bar in square panel/

2 diamond meshes

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1 row of codline meshes

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Figure 4b: the construction of upper panel, size and position of the window panel in case when the escape panel runs from selvedge to selvedge

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Upper panel

(with diamond meshes between selvedge and square mesh panel)

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105 mm inside 16 ½ md

Joining: 2 diamond meshes/ 1 bar in square panel

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2 knots in joining square panel to max 5 open diamond meshes on both sides of square panel

AN

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(29 ½ md) 3,54 met

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Joining: 1 bar in square panel/ 2 diamond meshes

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1 row of codline meshes

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Figure 4c: The construction of upper panel in case 20% of diamond meshes in the upper panel are maintained and equally divided on both sides of the window

ANNEX VII

Part I

Quantitative limitations of licences and fishing permits for Community vessels fishing in Third Country waters.

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Part II

Quantitative limitations of licences and fishing permits

for third countries vessels in Community waters.

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