Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(3) thereof,
Council Regulation (EU) 2024/257(1) fixes for 2024, 2025 and 2026 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union fishing vessels, in certain non-Union waters. The total allowable catches (TACs) and effort limits, and the measures functionally linked to the TACs and effort limits set by Regulation (EU) 2024/257, should be amended to take into account the publication of scientific advice, as well as the outcomes of consultations with third countries, and meetings of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs).
Regulation (EU) 2024/257 established a TAC for skates and rays (Rajiformes) in Union and United Kingdom waters of International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) divisions 6a, 6b, 7a to 7c and 7e to 7k. That Regulation also established a special condition under that TAC. That special condition allows catches of small-eyed ray (Raja microocellata) to be taken in ICES division 7e (Western Channel) by the Union and the United Kingdom in 2024, to allow for a sentinel fishery for the purpose of fisheries-based data collection for that stock as assessed by ICES. To provide for legal certainty and to allow sentinel fishery ‘monitoring programmes’ to be conducted, quantities under that special condition should be allocated to Member States in accordance with the principle of relative stability and the allocation key for skates and rays in Union and United Kingdom waters of ICES divisions 6a, 6b, 7a to 7c and 7e to 7k.
In the bilateral consultations on the setting of fishing opportunities for stocks listed in Annex 35 to 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(2) (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’), the Union and the United Kingdom established, for the first time, TACs for 2024 for: (i) witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) in Union waters of ICES division 3a; (ii) lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) in that area; and (iii) brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) in that area. Pending an agreement between Member States on how those fishing opportunities are to be allocated, the TACs for those stocks were marked in Regulation (EU) 2024/257 ‘to be established’. The TAC and Union quota for those stocks should be fixed for the period and at the level agreed with the United Kingdom, and those Union quotas should be allocated to Member States in line with the agreement on allocation keys for those stocks reached between the Member States concerned on 18 March 2024.
On 7 and 8 March 2024, the Union and the United Kingdom conducted bilateral consultations pursuant to Article 498(2), (4) and (6) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the level of the TAC for sandeel and associated by-catches (Ammodytes spp.) in United Kingdom and Union waters of ICES subarea 4, United Kingdom waters of ICES division 2a, and Union waters of division 3a. The outcome of those consultations was documented in a Written Record signed on 12 March 2024. The relevant TAC should therefore be set at the level agreed with the United Kingdom.
At its 12th annual meeting in 2024, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) adopted catch limits for jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) and maintained exploratory fisheries for toothfishes (Dissostichus spp.). In addition, the SPRFMO maintained or amended functionally linked measures. Those measures should be implemented in Union law.
At its 2023 annual meeting, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) decided to maintain the purse seine effort limits and maximum numbers of these vessels fishing for tropical tunas. Provisions related to the management of the Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in the tropical tunas fishery, and in particular to the FAD closure, were amended. Those measures should be implemented in Union law.
Fishing effort limits for Union fishing vessels fishing for bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Convention area and maximum input and capacity for Union farms of bluefin tuna in that area are based on information provided in the annual fishing plans, the annual fishing capacity management plans and the annual farming management plans for bluefin tuna of Member States, established in accordance with Articles 11, 13 and 15 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 of the European Parliament and of the Council(3). Member States are to submit those plans to the Commission by 31 January of each year, pursuant to Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2053. Those plans are then compiled by the Commission and form the basis for the establishment of a Union annual plan, which is transmitted to the ICCAT Secretariat for discussion and approval by ICCAT, as required by Article 16(2) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2053. In accordance with ICCAT rules revised at its 2023 annual meeting, inactive bluefin tuna farms and related farming capacities were for the first time not included in that Union annual plan for 2024. The 2024 Union annual plan was approved by ICCAT on 6 March 2024. The Union fishing effort limits and Union maximum farming input and capacity for 2024 should therefore be amended in line with that annual plan.
The Union quotas for stocks in the ICCAT Convention area for 2024 were adjusted during the ICCAT annual meeting in November 2023 in accordance with several ICCAT recommendations under which the Union may, upon request, carry over a set percentage of its unused quota of fishing opportunities from 2022 to 2024. Therefore, and in order to allow, before the start of the fishing seasons for the stocks concerned, the use of those quantities carried over: (i) the Union quotas for northern albacore (Thunnus alalunga) (ALB/AN05N), for southern albacore (ALB/AS05N), for bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) in the Atlantic Ocean (BET/ATLANT), as well as for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the Atlantic Ocean, north of 5° N (SWO/AN05N), and for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean, south of 5° N (SWO/AS05N) should be amended to reflect such adjustments to the Union quota; and (ii) the Member States quotas under those Union quotas should be amended accordingly, taking into account the principle of relative stability.
At its 14th meeting held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 12 to 17 February 2024, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) added sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) to the protected species listed in Appendices I and II to that Convention. Those measures should therefore be implemented in Union law by prohibiting: (i) Union fishing vessels in all waters; and (ii) third country fishing vessels in Union waters, to fish for, retain on board, tranship or land that species. However, Article 98(2) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2124 of the European Parliament and of the Council(4) already established such a prohibition for sand tiger shark in the Mediterranean. To avoid overlapping provisions on the same subject matter, as regards the Mediterranean, such a prohibition should therefore now only be established for Union fishing vessels in all waters other than the Mediterranean, and for third country fishing vessels in Union waters.
Both Article 41(3) and Article 43 of Regulation (EU) 2024/257 refer to the same maximum number of Union fishing vessels authorised to fish for swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in areas of the WCPFC Convention area. Article 41(3) should therefore be deleted for reasons of legal clarity.
Article 59 of Regulation (EU) 2024/257 on entry into force and application should be corrected regarding measures on European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in Union marine and brackish waters of ICES subareas 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and adjacent Union brackish waters.
Certain errors in the TAC tables in the Annexes to Regulation (EU) 2024/257 should be corrected. Those include errors concerning: (i) TACs, Union and Member States quotas; (ii) the type of TAC (i.e. ‘analytical TAC’ or ‘precautionary TAC’); (iii) the application of year-to-year flexibility for Member States’ quotas pursuant to Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96(5); (iv) area descriptions; and (v) reporting codes. In addition, in those Annexes, certain provisions should be clarified in: (i) the TAC tables for undulate ray (Raja undulata) in Union waters of ICES subareas 8 and 9 respectively; and (ii) the TAC tables for mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Regulation (EU) 2024/257 should therefore be amended accordingly.
The fishing opportunities provided for in Regulation (EU) 2024/257 apply from 1 January 2024. The provisions introduced by this Regulation concerning fishing opportunities should therefore also apply from that date. Such retroactive application does not affect the principles of legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations, as the fishing opportunities concerned are increased or have not yet been exhausted.
The provisions of this Regulation concerning sand tiger shark should apply from 1 April 2024, which is: (i) after the 14th meeting of the COP to the CMS, which took place from 12 to 17 February 2024; and (ii) before the entry into force of the amendment to the Appendices I and II of the CMS on 17 May 2024.
Given the urgency of avoiding interruptions to fishing activities, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,