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Council Regulation (EU) 2019/124 of 30 January 2019 fixing for 2019 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters

Council Regulation (EU) 2019/124 of 30 January 2019 fixing for 2019 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters

TITLE I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1 Subject matter

1.

This Regulation fixes the fishing opportunities available in Union waters and to Union fishing vessels in certain non-Union waters, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks.

2.

The fishing opportunities referred to in paragraph 1 include:

  1. catch limits for the year 2019 and, where specified in this Regulation, for the year 2020;

  2. fishing effort limits for the period from 1 February 2019 to 31 January 2020, except where other periods are established for effort limits in Articles 27, 28 and 41, as well as regarding provisions on fish-aggregating devices (FADs);

  3. fishing opportunities for the period from 1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019 for certain stocks in the CCAMLR Convention Area;

  4. fishing opportunities for certain stocks in the IATTC Convention Area set out in Article 29 for the periods in 2019 and 2020 specified in that Article.

Article 2 Scope

1.

This Regulation shall apply to the following vessels:

  1. Union fishing vessels;

  2. third-country vessels in Union waters.

2.

This Regulation shall also apply to recreational fisheries where they are expressly referred to in the relevant provisions.

Article 3 Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 apply. In addition, the following definitions apply:

  1. ‘third-country vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of, and registered in, a third country;

  2. ‘recreational fisheries’ means non-commercial fishing activities exploiting marine biological resources such as recreation, tourism or sport;

  3. ‘international waters’ means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State;

  4. ‘total allowable catch’ (TAC) means:

    1. in fisheries subject to the exemption of the landing obligation referred to in Article 15(4) to (7) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the quantity of fish that can be landed from each stock each year;

    2. in all other fisheries, the quantity of fish that can be caught from each stock each year;

  5. ‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union, a Member State or a third country;

  6. ‘analytical assessments’ means quantitative evaluations of trends in a given stock, based on data about the stock's biology and exploitation, which scientific review has indicated to be of sufficient quality to provide scientific advice on options for future catches;

  7. ‘mesh size’ means the mesh size of fishing nets as determined in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 517/2008(1);

  8. ‘Union fishing fleet register’ means the register set up by the Commission in accordance with Article 24(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013;

  9. ‘fishing logbook’ means the logbook referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

Article 4 Fishing zones

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following zone definitions apply:

  1. ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) zones are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 218/2009(2);

  2. ‘Skagerrak’ means the geographical area bounded on the west by a line drawn from the Hanstholm lighthouse to the Lindesnes lighthouse and on the south by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from that point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast;

  3. ‘Kattegat’ means the geographical area bounded on the north by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from that point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast and on the south by a line drawn from Hasenøre to Gnibens Spids, from Korshage to Spodsbjerg and from Gilbjerg Hoved to Kullen;

  4. ‘Functional Unit 16 of ICES subarea 7’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

    • 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W,

    • 53° 30′ N 11° 00′ W,

    • 51° 30′ N 11° 00′ W,

    • 51° 30′ N 13° 00′ W,

    • 51° 00′ N 13° 00′ W,

    • 51° 00′ N 15° 00′ W,

    • 53° 30′ N 15° 00′ W;

  5. ‘Functional Unit 26 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

    • 43° 00′ N 8° 00′ W,

    • 43° 00′ N 10° 00′ W,

    • 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W,

    • 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

  6. ‘Functional Unit 27 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

    • 42° 00′ N 8° 00′ W,

    • 42° 00′ N 10° 00′ W,

    • 38° 30′ N 10° 00′ W,

    • 38° 30′ N 9° 00′ W,

    • 40° 00′ N 9° 00′ W,

    • 40° 00′ N 8° 00′ W;

  7. ‘Functional Unit 30 of ICES division 9a’ means the geographical area under the jurisdiction of Spain in the Gulf of Cádiz and in the adjacent waters of 9a;

  8. ‘Gulf of Cádiz’ means the geographical area of ICES division 9a east of longitude 7° 23′ 48″ W;

  9. ‘CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in point (a) of Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 601/2004(3);

  10. CECAF (Committee for Eastern Central Atlantic Fisheries) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 216/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council(4);

  11. ‘GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) geographical subareas’ are the areas defined in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council(5).

  12. ‘IATTC (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica(6);

  13. ‘ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas(7);

  14. ‘IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) Area of Competence’ is the geographical area defined in the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission(8);

  15. NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) areas are the geographical areas specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 217/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council(9);

  16. ‘SEAFO (South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean(10);

  17. ‘SIOFA Agreement Area’ is the geographic area defined in the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement(11);

  18. ‘SPRFMO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean(12);

  19. ‘WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission) Convention Area’ is the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean(13);

  20. ‘high seas of the Bering Sea’ is the geographical area of the high seas of the Bering Sea beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the coastal States of the Bering Sea is measured;

  21. ‘overlap area between IATTC and WCPFC’ is the geographical area defined by the following limits:

    • longitude 150° W,

    • longitude 130° W,

    • latitude 4° S,

    • latitude 50° S.

TITLE II FISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNION FISHING VESSELS

CHAPTER I General provisions

Article 5 TACs and allocations

Article 6 TACs to be determined by Member States

Article 7 Conditions for landing catches and by-catches

Article 8 Quota exchanges mechanism for TACs for unavoidable by-catches related to the introduction of the landing obligation

Article 9 Fishing effort limits

Article 10 Measures on European seabass fisheries

Article 11 Measures on European eel fisheries in Union waters of the ICES area

Article 12 Special provisions on allocations of fishing opportunities

Article 13 Closed fishing seasons

Article 14 Prohibitions

Article 15 Data transmission

CHAPTER II Fishing authorisations in third-country waters

Article 16 Fishing authorisations

CHAPTER III Fishing opportunities in waters of regional fisheries management organisations

Section 1 General provisions

Article 17 Quota transfers and exchanges

Section 2 ICCAT Convention Area

Article 18 Fishing, farming and fattening capacity limitations
Article 19 Recreational fisheries
Article 20 Sharks

Section 3 CCAMLR Convention Area

Article 21 Prohibitions and catch limitations
Article 22 Exploratory fisheries
Article 23 Krill fishery during the 2019/2020 fishing season

Section 4 IOTC Area of Competence

Article 24 Limitation of fishing capacity of vessels fishing in the IOTC Area of Competence
Article 25 Drifting FADs and supply vessels
Article 26 Sharks

Section 5 SPRFMO Convention Area

Article 27 Pelagic fisheries
Article 28 Bottom fisheries
Article 28a Exploratory fisheries

Section 6 IATTC Convention Area

Article 29 Purse-seine fisheries
Article 30 Drifting FADs
Article 31 Catch limits for bigeye tuna in long-line fisheries
Article 32 Prohibition of fishing for oceanic whitetip sharks
Article 33 Prohibition of fishing for Mobulid rays

Section 7 SEAFO Convention Area

Article 34 Prohibition of fishing for deep water sharks

Section 8 WCPFC Convention Area

Article 35 Conditions for bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna and south Pacific albacore fisheries
Article 36 Management of fishing with FADs
Article 37 Limitations to the number of Union fishing vessels authorised to fish for swordfish
Article 38 Catch limits for swordfish in long-line fisheries south of 20° S
Article 39 Silky sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks
Article 40 Overlap area between IATTC and WCPFC

Section 9 GFCM Agreement Area

Article 41 Small pelagic stocks in geographical subareas 17 and 18
Article 42 European eel in the Mediterranean Sea (GSAs 1 to 27)

Section 10 Bering Sea

Article 43 Prohibition on fishing in the high seas of the Bering Sea

Section 11 SIOFA

Article 44 Interim bottom fishing measures

TITLE III FISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THIRD-COUNTRY VESSELS IN UNION WATERS

Article 45 Fishing vessels flying the flag of Norway and fishing vessels registered in the Faroe Islands

Article 46 Fishing vessels flying the flag of Venezuela

Article 47 Fishing authorisations

Article 48 Conditions for landing catches and by-catches

Article 49 Closed fishing seasons

Article 50 Prohibitions

TITLE IV FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 51 Committee procedure

Article 52 Transitional provision

Article 53 Entry into force

ANNEX I

ANNEX IA

Appendix

ANNEX IB

ANNEX IC

ANNEX ID

ANNEX IE

ANNEX IF

ANNEX IG

ANNEX IH

ANNEX IJ

ANNEX IK

ANNEX IL

ANNEX IIB

ANNEX IIC

Appendix to Annex IIC

ANNEX III

ANNEX IV

ANNEX V

Appendix to Annex V, Part B
ANNEX 21-03/A
ANNEX 21-03/B

ANNEX VI

ANNEX VII

ANNEX VIII