Article 1 Exclusion from the effort regime under Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008
The following groups of vessels shall be excluded from the application of the fishing effort regime laid down in Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008: (a) the group of vessels flying the flag of Sweden, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Sweden dated 26 February 2009 as completed by letter dated 8 April 2009, fishing in the Skagerrak and Kattegat during the period in which these vessel are fishing solely with a sorting grid as defined in Appendix 2 to Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and targeting Norway lobster; (b) the group of vessels flying the flag of Spain, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Spain dated 2 December 2008 as completed by letters dated 6 and 14 March 2009, using bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 100 mm on the shelf slope off the West of Scotland in depths between 200 and 1 000 metres and targeting mainly deep-sea species and hake; (c) the group of vessels flying the flag of the United Kingdom, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from the United Kingdom dated 18 June 2009, targeting Norway lobster and using bottom trawls and seines of mesh size equal to or larger than 70 mm and less than 100 mm in the West of Scotland, in particular in the Minch (ICES statistical rectangles 42 E3, 42 E4, 43 E3, 43 E4, 44 E3, 44 E4, 45 E3); (d) the group of vessels flying the flag of the United Kingdom, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from the United Kingdom dated 18 June 2009, targeting Norway lobster and using bottom trawls and seines of mesh size equal to or larger than 70 mm and less than 100 mm in the West of Scotland, in particular in the Firth of Clyde (ICES statistical rectangles 39 E5 and 40 E5); (e) the group of vessels flying the flag of Poland, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Poland dated 24 April 2009 as completed by correspondence dated 11 July 2009, targeting saithe and using bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 100 mm in the North Sea and EU waters of ICES zone IIa with full-time observer coverage; (f) the group of high sea vessels flying the flag of Germany, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Germany dated 26 March 2010, as completed by correspondence dated 9 April and 20 May 2010, targeting saithe in the North Sea, the EU waters of ICES Zone IIa and in the area to the West of Scotland with bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 120 mm; (g) the group of vessels flying the flag of Ireland, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Ireland dated 26 March 2010, fishing in the Irish Sea during the period in which these vessels are fishing solely with a selective sorting grid similar to that defined in Appendix 2 to Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and targeting Norway lobster; (h) the group of vessels flying the flag of France, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from France dated 24 March 2010, as completed by correspondence dated 25 March, 29 March, 8 April and 20 May 2010, targeting deep sea species in the area to the West of Scotland with bottom trawls of mesh size larger than 110 mm.
Amendment rationale: EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM According to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 establishing a long-term plan for cod stocks and the fisheries exploiting those stocks and repealing Regulation (EC) No 423/2004, the Council may, acting on a Commission proposal and on the basis of the information provided by Member States and the advice of STECF, exclude certain groups of vessels from the application of the effort regime provided that appropriate data is available on the cod catches and discards of the vessels concerned, that the percentage of cod catches does not exceed 1,5% of the total catches of the group of vessels and that the inclusion of the group in the effort regime would constitute an administrative burden disproportionate to its overall impact on cod stocks. Following the exclusion of groups of vessels from Sweden and Spain as decided by the Council on 27 July 2009 (Regulation (EC) No 754/2009), further requests from France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom have been assessed by the STECF. Based on the advice from STECF, the information provided by Germany and Poland directed towards saithe, by Spain directed towards hake and by France directed towards deep sea species and anglerfish sufficiently shows that the cod catches, including discards, of the groups of vessels comply with the conditions of Article 11(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 and may thus be excluded from the effort regime as long as those fisheries proceed predominantly below the cod distribution depth ranging up to 300 meters. For all other requests the information submitted was considered as insufficient to establish compliance with those conditions. The present proposal intends to exclude the groups of vessels from the application of Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008. The Council is requested to adopt this proposal as soon as possible in order to allow fishermen to plan their activities for the remainder of this fishing season.
Revised version (Article 1 Exclusion from the effort regime under Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008):
The following groups of vessels shall be excluded from the application of the fishing effort regime laid down in Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008: (a) the group of vessels flying the flag of Sweden, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Sweden dated 26 February 2009 as completed by letter dated 8 April 2009, fishing in the Skagerrak and Kattegat during the period in which these vessel are fishing solely with a sorting grid as defined in Appendix 2 to Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and targeting Norway lobster; (b) the group of vessels flying the flag of Spain, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Spain dated 2 December 2008 as completed by letters dated 6 and 14 March 2009, using bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 100 mm on the shelf slope off the West of Scotland in depths between 200 and 1 000 metres and targeting mainly deep-sea species and hake; (c) the group of vessels flying the flag of the United Kingdom, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from the United Kingdom dated 18 June 2009, targeting Norway lobster and using bottom trawls and seines of mesh size equal to or larger than 70 mm and less than 100 mm in the West of Scotland, in particular in the Minch (ICES statistical rectangles 42 E3, 42 E4, 43 E3, 43 E4, 44 E3, 44 E4, 45 E3); (d) the group of vessels flying the flag of the United Kingdom, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from the United Kingdom dated 18 June 2009, targeting Norway lobster and using bottom trawls and seines of mesh size equal to or larger than 70 mm and less than 100 mm in the West of Scotland, in particular in the Firth of Clyde (ICES statistical rectangles 39 E5 and 40 E5); (e) the group of vessels flying the flag of Poland, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Poland dated 24 April 2009 as completed by correspondence dated 11 July 2009, targeting saithe and using bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 100 mm in the North Sea and EU waters of ICES zone IIa with full-time observer coverage; (g) the group of vessels flying the flag of Ireland, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Ireland dated 26 March 2010, fishing in the Irish Sea during the period in which these vessels are fishing solely with a selective sorting grid similar to that defined in Appendix 2 to Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and targeting Norway lobster; (h) the group of vessels flying the flag of Ireland, participating in the fishery indicated in the request from Ireland dated 11 March 2011, operating in the west of Scotland using bottom trawls of mesh size equal to or larger than 120 mm with square mesh panels in the area stated in point 6.1 of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and using 100 mm mesh size elsewhere in the west of Scotland.
Article 2 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 February 2009. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Amendment rationale: CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL Council Regulations (EU) No 39/2013 and (EU) No 40/2013 fix, for 2013, fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in EU waters and, for EU vessels, in certain non-EU waters. Fishing opportunities contained in those Regulations are usually amended several times during the period in which they are in effect. Regulation (EU) No 1262/2012 fixes, for 2013 and 2014, the fishing opportunities for EU vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks. As for Regulation (EC) No 754/2009, it excludes certain groups of vessels from the fishing effort regime for cod laid down in Chapter III of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008. When an excluded group of vessels needs to be re-included in Regulation (EC) No 754/2009, the relevant provision thereof needs to be amended, as well as the effort limits shown in Annex IIA of the two fishing opportunities regulations mentioned above.
Revised version (Article 2 Entry into force):
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from 1 February 2009.