Commission Regulation (EC) No 2602/2001 of 27 December 2001 establishing additional technical measures for the recovery of the stock of hake in ICES subareas III, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e
Date: 2001-12-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: fishery management, fishery resources, fishing area, fishing controls, fishing regulations, technical standard

29.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 345/49

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2602/2001

of 27 December 2001

establishing additional technical measures for the recovery of the stock of hake in ICES subareas
III, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e

THE COMMISSION THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

(7)

regarding the conservation and recovery of the hake
stock.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of
the Management
Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 of 30
March 1998 for the conservation of fishery resources through
technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine
organisms (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 973/
2001 (2), and in particular Article 45(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

In November 2000, the International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea (ICES) indicated that the stock of
hake in ICES subareas III, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES
Division VIIIa,b,d,e is at serious risk of collapse.

The majority of the stock inhabits ICES subareas V, VI,
and VII and ICES Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1162/2001 of 14 June
2001 establishing measures for the recovery of the stock
of hake in ICES subareas III, IV, V, VI and VII and ICES
Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e and associated conditions for the
control of activities of fishing vessels (3)
lays down a
number of additional technical measures relevant to the
recovery of this stock.

Those technical measures will remain in force until 1
March 2002. However, by that date the revision of
Regulation (EC) No 850/98 will not have been achieved.
the measures
An interruption of
would cause serious harm to the stock of hake.

the application of

Therefore immediate action in conformity with condi-
tions laid down in Article 45(1) of Regulation (EC) No
850/98 is required to ensure that the measures laid
down in Regulation (EC) No 1162/2001 continue to
apply until the revision of Regulation (EC) No 850/98 is
adopted by the Council.

Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1162/2001 provides
a derogation which is justified by the fact that the limit
on the catches of hake would cause serious economic
problems for small fishing vessels working on a daily
consequences
basis. The derogation has negligible

(1) OJ L 125, 27.4.1998, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 137, 19.5.2001, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 159, 14.6.2001, p. 4.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

This Regulation shall apply to fishing vessels operating within
ICES subareas V and VII and ICES Divisions VIIb,c,f,g,h,j,k and
ICES Divisions VIIIa,b,d,e.

Article 2

1.
Notwithstanding the conditions laid down in Article 4(4)
and Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 850/98, catches of hake
(Merluccius merluccius) retained on board any vessel carrying any
towed gear of mesh size 55 mm to 99 mm may not be in
excess of 20 % of the weight of the total catch of marine
organisms retained on board.

2.
The conditions of paragraph 1 shall not apply to any
vessel of length less than 12 metres overall which returns to
port within 24 hours of its most recent departure from port.

Article 3

It shall be prohibited to use:

(a) except in ICES subareas V and VI, any cod-end and/or
extension piece of any towed net except beam trawls of
mesh size greater than 55 mm which is not constructed of
single-twine netting material of which no twine is of thick-
ness greater
than 6 mm or of double-twine netting
material of which no twine is of thickness greater than
4 mm;

(b) any demersal towed net other than beam trawl incorpor-
ating a cod-end of mesh size range 70 mm to 89 mm
having more than 120 meshes in any circumference of the
said cod-end excluding the joinings and selvages;

(c) any demersal

towed net which includes any individual
quadrilateral mesh of which the bars of the mesh are not of
approximately equal

length;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

29.12.2001

(d) any demersal towed net to which a cod-end of mesh size
less than 100 mm is attached by any means other than
being sewn into that part of
the net anterior to the
cod-end.

48° 00'N, 06° 00'W

48° 00'N, 07° 00'W

45° 00'N, 02° 00'W

44° 00'N, 02° 00'W

Article 4

a point on the coast of France at 44° 00'N

a point on the coast of France at 45° 30'N

It shall be prohibited to carry on board or deploy any beam
trawl of mesh size equal to or greater than 70 mm unless the
entire upper half of the anterior part of such a net consists of a
panel of netting material of which no individual mesh is of
mesh size less than 180 mm attached:

45° 30'N, 02° 00'W

45° 45'N, 02° 00'W

48° 00'N, 06° 00'W.

— directly to the headline, or

— to no more than three rows of netting material of any mesh

2. Within the areas defined in paragraph 1:

size attached directly to the headline.

The panel of netting shall extend towards the posterior of the
net for at least the number of meshes determined by:

(a) dividing the length in metres of the beam by 12;

(b) multiplying the result obtained in (a) by 5 400;

(c) dividing the result obtained in (b) by the mesh size,

in

millimetres, of the smallest mesh in the panel;

(d) ignoring any decimal or other fractions in the result

obtained in (c).

Article 5

For the purposes of paragraph 2, the following geograph-

1.
ical areas are defined;

(a) the area enclosed by straight lines sequentially joining the
following coordinates and excluding any part of that area
situated within the limit of 12 nautical miles calculated
from the baselines of Ireland:

53° 30'N, 11° 00'W

53° 30'N, 12° 00'W

53° 00'N, 12° 00'W

51° 00'N, 11° 00'W

49° 30'N, 11° 00'W

49° 30'N, 07° 00'W

51° 00'N, 07° 00'W

51° 00'N, 10° 30'W

51° 30'N, 11° 00'W

53° 30'N, 11° 00'W;

— it is prohibited to conduct any fishing activity using any
towed net of mesh size range 55 mm to 99 mm,

— it is prohibited to immerse, partially or wholly, or other-
wise deploy for any purpose any towed net which is of
mesh size range 55 mm to 99 mm,

— all towed nets of mesh size range 55 mm to 99 mm shall
be lashed and stowed in accordance with the provisions
laid down in Article 20(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No
2847/93 (1).

Within the area defined in paragraph 1(a):

— it is prohibited to conduct any fishing activity using any

fixed gear of mesh size less than 120 mm,

— it is prohibited to immerse, partially or wholly or otherwise
deploy for any purpose, any fixed gear of mesh size less
than 120 mm,

— all fixed gears of mesh size less than 120 mm shall be
lashed and stowed in accordance with the provisions laid
down in Article 20(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93.

Within the area defined in paragraph 1(b):

— it is prohibited to conduct any fishing activity using any

fixed gear of mesh size less than 100 mm,

— it is prohibited to immerse, partially or wholly or otherwise
deploy for any purpose, any fixed gear of mesh size less
than 100 mm,

— all fixed gears of mesh size less than 100 mm shall be
lashed and stowed in accordance with the provisions laid
down in Article 20(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93.

Article 6

(b) the area enclosed by straight lines sequentially joining the
following coordinates and excluding any part of that area
situated within the limit of 12 nautical miles calculated
from the baselines of France;

This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 March 2002.

(1) OJ L 261, 20.10.1993, p. 1.

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

Done at Brussels, 27 December 2001.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission