Council Regulation (EU) 2022/109 of 27 January 2022 fixing for 2022 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

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions 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 in the context of recreation, tourism or sport;

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

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

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

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

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

6. ‘analytical assessment’ means quantitative evaluation 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 defined in Article 6, point (34), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1241 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽¹⁾;

8. ‘Union fishing fleet register’ means the register set up by the Commission pursuant to 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;

10. ‘instrumented buoy’ means a buoy clearly marked with a unique reference number allowing identification of its owner and equipped with a satellite tracking system to monitor its position;

11. ‘operational buoy’ means any instrumented buoy, previously activated, switched on and deployed at sea on a drifting fish aggregating device (FAD) or log, which transmits positions and other available information such as echo-sounder estimates;

12. ‘FMSY point value’ means the value of the estimated fishing mortality that, with a given fishing pattern and under current average environmental conditions, gives the long-term maximum sustainable yield.

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 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽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;

5. ‘functional unit 25 of ICES division 8c’ means the geographical sea area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

   • 43° 00' N 9° 00' W,

   • 43° 00' N 10° 00' W,

   • 43° 30' N 10° 00' W,

   • 43° 30' N 9° 00' W,

   • 44° 00' N 9° 00' W,

   • 44° 00' N 8° 00' W,

   • 43° 30' N 8° 00' W;

6. ‘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;

7. ‘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;

8. ‘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 ICES division 9a;

9. ‘functional unit 31 of ICES division 8c’ means the geographical sea area bounded by rhumb lines sequentially joining the following positions:

   • 43° 30' N 6° 00' W,

   • 44° 00' N 6° 00' W,

   • 44° 00' N 2° 00' W,

   • 43° 30' N 2° 00' W;

10. ‘Gulf of Cádiz’ means the geographical area of ICES division 9a east of longitude 7^o 23' 48″ W;

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

12. 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⁾;

13. ‘IATTC (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission) Convention Area’ means 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 (Antigua Convention)⁽⁵⁾;

14. ‘ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) Convention Area’ means the geographical area defined in the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas⁽⁶⁾;

15. ‘IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) Area of Competence’ means the geographical area defined in the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission⁽⁷⁾;

16. 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⁽⁸⁾;

17. ‘SEAFO (South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) Convention Area’ means the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean⁽⁹⁾;

18. ‘SIOFA (Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement) Agreement Area’ means the geographical area defined in the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement⁽¹⁰⁾;

19. ‘SPRFMO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation) Convention Area’ means the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean⁽¹¹⁾;

20. ‘WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission) Convention Area’ means the geographical area defined in the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean⁽¹²⁾;

21. ‘high seas of the Bering Sea’ means 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 seas of the coastal States of the Bering Sea is measured;

22. ‘overlap area between IATTC and WCPFC Convention Areas’ means the geographical area defined by the following limits:

    • longitude 150^o W,

    • longitude 130^o W,

    • latitude 4^o S,

    • latitude 50^o S.