Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 of 6 April 2009 concerning a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, amending Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1559/2007

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 37 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament⁽¹⁾,

Whereas:

Since 14 November 1997, the Community has been a Party to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas⁽²⁾ (hereinafter referred to as the Convention).
At its 16th Special Meeting in November 2008, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) adopted Recommendation 08-05 to establish a new recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean ending in 2022 and replacing the recovery plan adopted in 2006.
In order to rebuild the stock, the new ICCAT recovery plan provides for a graduated reduction in the total allowable catch level from 2007 to 2011, restrictions on fishing within certain areas and time periods, a new minimum size for bluefin tuna, measures concerning sport and recreational fishing activities, farming and fishing capacity measures as well as reinforced control measures and the implementation of the ICCAT scheme of joint international inspection to ensure the effectiveness of the recovery plan.
It is therefore necessary to implement the new ICCAT recovery plan by means of a Regulation establishing a recovery plan as provided for in Article 5 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the common fisheries policy⁽³⁾, which should enter into force before the beginning of the main fishing season.
The ICCAT recovery plan of 2006 was incorporated in Community law by Council Regulation (EC) No 1559/2007 of 17 December 2007 establishing a multi-annual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean⁽⁴⁾. The adoption by ICCAT of a new recovery plan for bluefin tuna requires the amendment of Council Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 of 16 January 2009 fixing for 2009 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required⁽⁵⁾, repeal of Regulation (EC) No 1559/2007 and its replacement by this Regulation.
Given the urgency of the matter, it is necessary to grant an exception to the six-week period mentioned in paragraph 1(3) of the Protocol on the role of national parliaments in the European Union annexed to the Treaty on the European Union, to the Treaty establishing the European Community and to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS

This Regulation lays down the general rules for the application by the Community of a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

This Regulation shall apply to bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The objective of that recovery plan shall be to achieve a biomass corresponding to the maximum sustainable yield with greater than 50 % probability.

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

‘CPCs’ means Contracting Parties to the Convention and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties, Entities or Fishing Entities;
‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel used or intended for use for the purposes of the commercial exploitation of bluefin tuna resources, including catching vessels, fish processing vessels, support ships, tug and towing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and transport vessels equipped for the transportation of tuna products and auxiliary vessels, except container vessels;
‘catching vessel’ means a vessel used for the purposes of the commercial capture of bluefin tuna resources;
‘auxiliary vessel’ means any vessel used to transport dead bluefin tuna (not processed) from a cage to a designated port;
‘processing vessel’ means a vessel on board of which fisheries products are subject to one or more of the following operations, prior to their packaging: filleting or slicing, freezing and/or transformation;
‘fishing actively’ means, for any catching vessel, the fact that it targets bluefin tuna during a given fishing season;
‘joint fishing operation’ means any operation between two or more catching vessels flying the flag of different CPCs or of different Member States or of the same Member State where the catch of one catching vessel is attributed to one or more other catching vessels in accordance with an allocation key;
‘transfer activities’ means:
1. any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the catching vessel’s net or trap to the transport cage;
2. any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the transport cage to another transport cage;
3. any transfer of dead bluefin tuna from the catching vessel’s net or transport cage to an auxiliary vessel;
4. any transfer from a bluefin tuna farm or a tuna trap to a processing vessel, transport vessel or to land;
5. any transfer of a transport cage from a tug vessel to another tug vessel;
‘tuna trap’ means fixed gear anchored to the bottom usually containing a guide net that leads fish into an enclosure;
‘caging’ means the transfer of bluefin tuna from the transport cage to the fattening and farming cages;
‘fattening’ means the caging of bluefin tuna for a short period (usually two to six months) aiming mostly at increasing the fat content of the fish;
‘farming’ means the caging of bluefin tuna for a period longer than one year, aiming to increase the total biomass;
‘transhipment’ means the unloading of all or any of the bluefin tuna on board a fishing vessel onto another fishing vessel;
‘sport fishery’ means a non-commercial fishery whose participants adhere to a national sport organisation or are issued with a national sport licence;
‘recreational fishery’ means a non-commercial fishery whose participants do not adhere to a national sport organisation or are not issued with a national sport licence;
‘Task II’ means Task II as defined by ICCAT in the ‘Field manual for statistics and sampling Atlantic tunas and tuna-like fish’ (Third edition, ICCAT, 1990).

All lengths of vessels referred to in this Regulation shall be understood as length overall.

Article 1 Subject matter, scope and objective

This Regulation shall apply to bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The objective of that recovery plan shall be to achieve a biomass corresponding to the maximum sustainable yield with greater than 50 % probability.

Article 2 Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

‘CPCs’ means Contracting Parties to the Convention and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties, Entities or Fishing Entities;
‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel used or intended for use for the purposes of the commercial exploitation of bluefin tuna resources, including catching vessels, fish processing vessels, support ships, tug and towing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and transport vessels equipped for the transportation of tuna products and auxiliary vessels, except container vessels;
‘catching vessel’ means a vessel used for the purposes of the commercial capture of bluefin tuna resources;
‘auxiliary vessel’ means any vessel used to transport dead bluefin tuna (not processed) from a cage to a designated port;
‘processing vessel’ means a vessel on board of which fisheries products are subject to one or more of the following operations, prior to their packaging: filleting or slicing, freezing and/or transformation;
‘fishing actively’ means, for any catching vessel, the fact that it targets bluefin tuna during a given fishing season;
‘joint fishing operation’ means any operation between two or more catching vessels flying the flag of different CPCs or of different Member States or of the same Member State where the catch of one catching vessel is attributed to one or more other catching vessels in accordance with an allocation key;
‘transfer activities’ means:
1. any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the catching vessel’s net or trap to the transport cage;
2. any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the transport cage to another transport cage;
3. any transfer of dead bluefin tuna from the catching vessel’s net or transport cage to an auxiliary vessel;
4. any transfer from a bluefin tuna farm or a tuna trap to a processing vessel, transport vessel or to land;
5. any transfer of a transport cage from a tug vessel to another tug vessel;
‘tuna trap’ means fixed gear anchored to the bottom usually containing a guide net that leads fish into an enclosure;
‘caging’ means the transfer of bluefin tuna from the transport cage to the fattening and farming cages;
‘fattening’ means the caging of bluefin tuna for a short period (usually two to six months) aiming mostly at increasing the fat content of the fish;
‘farming’ means the caging of bluefin tuna for a period longer than one year, aiming to increase the total biomass;
‘transhipment’ means the unloading of all or any of the bluefin tuna on board a fishing vessel onto another fishing vessel;
‘sport fishery’ means a non-commercial fishery whose participants adhere to a national sport organisation or are issued with a national sport licence;
‘recreational fishery’ means a non-commercial fishery whose participants do not adhere to a national sport organisation or are not issued with a national sport licence;
‘Task II’ means Task II as defined by ICCAT in the ‘Field manual for statistics and sampling Atlantic tunas and tuna-like fish’ (Third edition, ICCAT, 1990).

Article 3 Length of vessels

All lengths of vessels referred to in this Regulation shall be understood as length overall.