L 21/8
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
31.1.2022
(54)
ICES noted in 2019 that the herring (Clupea harengus) catches for ICES division 3a should be as close to zero as possible given that without additional area or time restriction on the herring fishery, a catch of western Baltic spring-spawning (WBSS) herring would be inevitable.
Recent information by ICES indicates the increasing intermixing of WBSS herring with North Sea herring in the Skagerrak and North Sea, where the majority of WBSS herring catches now occur in the Skagerrak and to a lesser extent in the eastern North Sea.
(55)
In the Agreed Record from the bilateral consultations between the Union and Norway for Skagerrak, the Union commits to limit its actual catches in the Skagerrak to 969 tonnes, while Norway agreed to transfer at least 95 % of its quota to the North Sea to protect WBSS herring.
Accordingly, it is proposed to limit the overall catches of C (HER/03A.) and D (HER/03A-BC) fleets for the relevant Member States by adding a special condition footnote to the TAC tables of those quotas, while maintaining the level of the quotas in the tables to reflect the relative stability and to regulate the associate inter-area flexibility (IAF).
In the case of Norway, the maximum actual catches that could take place in Union waters of ICES division 3a would correspond to 167 tonnes (5 % of its quota).
(56)
According to paragraph 13.11 of the Agreed Record from the bilateral consultations between the Union and Norway for Skagerrak, Norway and the Union should be able to fish up to 100 % of their Skagerrak herring quota in the North Sea in order to protect WBSS herring.
Pending the conclusion of the bilateral consultations with the United Kingdom for 2022, it could not be confirmed on 20 December that the IAF into United Kingdom waters for 2022 for HER/03A would be maintained.
Therefore, it is necessary to make explicit that IAF into United Kingdom waters would not be applicable in the relevant footnotes of the C fleets until the Union and the United Kingdom agreed on such flexibility in the bilateral consultations between those two parties.
(57)
In paragraph 13.12 of the Agreed Record from the bilateral consultations between the Union and Norway for Skagerrak, the Union announced its intention to use certain flexibility in the North Sea areas 4a and 4b equal to the Union part of 5,7 % of the A fleet level, or 21 038 tonnes.
(58)
The Union held bilateral consultations annually with the Faroe Islands on the exchange of quotas and reciprocal access for 2022.
Those consultations did not lead to the conclusion of an agreement in 2021.
(59)
Under Article 498(2) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (12) (‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’), the Union and the United Kingdom are to hold annually consultations to agree, by 10 December of each year, the TACs for the following year for the stocks listed in Annex 35 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Under Article 499(2) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, if such TACs are not agreed on 20 December, the Parties are to set provisional TACs.
(60)
The bilateral consultations with the United Kingdom were concluded on 21 December.
This was too late for the outcome to be included in this Regulation, taking into account that it should apply from 1 January 2022.
The Council should therefore, in full respect of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and rights and obligations of the coastal states as well as their sovereignty and jurisdiction, fix provisional TACs to be fished in Union and international waters, and waters to which the Union fishing vessels are granted access by third countries.
The outcome of the consultations under Article 498 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, as expressed in the Written Record signed on 21 December 2021, should be reflected in an amendment to this Regulation, which should be adopted as soon as possible.
(61)
The provisional TACs should aim to ensure legal certainty for the Union operators and to ensure the continuation of sustainable fishing activities until such an amendment is adopted.
(12) OJ L 149, 30.4.2021, p. 10.