Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) amending, for the second time, Regulation (EC) No 3366/94 laying down for 1995 certain conservation and management measures for fishery resources in the Regulatory Area as defined in the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries

(95/C 211/07)

COM(95) 266 final

(Submitted by the Commission on 15 June 1995)

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, and in particular, Article 8 (4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 3366/94 of 20 December 1994 lays down fishing quotas for Member States in the NAFO Regulatory Area for 1995;

Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 850/95 (1) establishes for 1995 an autonomous quota for Greenland halibut in NAFO areas 2 and 3 at 18 630 tonnes;

Whereas following bilateral negotiations, the European Community and the Government of Canada signed an Agreed Minute on fisheries and agreed on its provisional application;

Whereas the Agreed Minute establishes that Community fleets will limit their catches of Greenland halibut in NAFO areas 3LMNO to 5 013 tonnes from 16 April 1995 onwards;

Whereas in order to ensure the conservation of the Greenland halibut stock, provisions should be made with regard to the communication of effort plans for this fishery;

Whereas in order to improve compliance with NAFO conservation and enforcement measures the Community should implement a pilot project for satellite-tracking;

Whereas Regulation (EC) No 3366/94 should therefore be amended,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 3366/94 is amended as follows:

1. Annex I is replaced by the Annex I to this Regulation;

2. Article 2a is added as follows:

'Article 2a

Member States shall inform the Commission of the fishing plan for the Greenland halibut fishery in the Regulatory Area and shall, no later than 1 December 1995, report to the Commission on its implementation.`;

3. Article 5a is added as follows:

'Article 5a

Member States shall install satellite-tracking devices on at least 35 % of the vessels flying their flag and fishing in the Regulatory Area, in accordance with the rules and procedures set out in Annex VI.`;

4. Annex II to this Regulation is added as Annex VI.

Article 2

All catches by Member States of Greenland halibut in areas 2 and 3 prior to the adoption of the present Regulation, and taken after 15 April 1995, shall be counted against the quota established in Annex I.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following 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.

(1) OJ No L 86, 20. 4. 1995, p. 1.

ANNEX I

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ANNEX II

1. The competent authority responsible for carrying out the pilot project for satellite-tracking shall be designated by each Member State, which shall communicate to the Commission, no later than seven days after this Regulation has entered into force, the name, address, telephone number and fax number of that authority.

2. Each Member State shall take the necessary steps to ensure that the competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 is equipped with computerized installations allowing the processing of the data transmitted by or received from the fishing vessels referred to in which satellite-tracking devices are installed.

3. The satellite tracking devices referred to in Article 5a shall ensure the automatic transmission, on an hourly basis, of data relating to the position of the vessel on which they are installed, with a position error which must be less than 500 metres and a confidence interval of 99 %, and the date and time of the recording of the said position, to the competent authority of the flag Member State and to the Commission.

4. The installations referred to in paragraph 2 shall allow the continuous position monitoring, of the vessels flying the flag of the Member State concerned, regardless of the maritime waters in which they are operating ot the port they are in. They must enable the flag Member State, whatever the system used, to:

(a) collect, process, record and centralize in computer-readable form, the data referred to in paragraph 3;

(b) communicate in an automatic way the data transmitted by or recovered from its vessel to the Commission.

5. Each Member State shall forward to the Commission, no later than seven days after this Regulation has entered into force, the following information:

(a) the number of vessels concerned and their technical description (internal fleet register number, name, external identification number, length, tonnage, engine power, radio call sign, type of vessel);

(b) the technical characteristics of the equipment and the installations referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3.

6. Member States shall inform the Commission regularly of the implementation of their pilot project.

7. In the event of a vessel having to be added, withdrawn or replaced, or the data relating to a vessel having to be altered, the Member State whose flag the vessel concerned is flying, shall inform the Commission thereof.

8. The Commission shall cooperate with other NAFO Contracting Parties which have a NAFO inspection vessel or aircraft in the NAFO Convention Area in order to exchange information on a real-time basis on the geographical distribution of fishing vessels equipped with satellite-tracking devices and, on specific request, information related to the identification of a vessel.

9. The data communicated or acquired on whatever form by virtue of paragraph 3 is covered by professional secrecy and shall benefit from the same protection granted to similar data by the national legislation of Member States receiving them and by the corresponding provisions applicable to Community institutions.

10. Each Member State shall pay all its costs associated with the satellite tracking system.

11. The Commission shall prepare a report on the results of the pilot project from the perspective of efficiency and effectiveness, including:

(a) overall effectiveness of the project in improving compliance with NAFO conservation and enforcement measures;

(b) the effectiveness of the different components of the project;

(c) costs associated with satellite-tracking;

(d) estimations of fishing efforts from observers as compared to initial estimation by satellite monitoring;

(e) analysis of the efficiency in terms of cost/benefit, the latter being expressed in terms of compliance with rules and volume of data received for fisheries management.

To that end, the Commission may request all relevant information from the Member States.

12. The report shall be submitted to the NAFO Executive Secretary in time for its consideration at the NAFO Annual Meeting of September 1997.