30.7.2021 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
L 274/32 |
REGULATION (EU) 2021/1231 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 14 July 2021
amending Regulation (EU) 2019/833 laying down conservation and enforcement measures applicable in the Regulatory Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 43(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),
Whereas:
(1) |
Since the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2019/833 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) adopted at its 41st and 42nd annual meetings, in 2019 and 2020 respectively, a number of legally binding decisions for the conservation of fishery resources under its purview. |
(2) |
Those decisions are addressed to the NAFO Contracting Parties, but also contain obligations for the operators (for example the master of the vessel). New NAFO conservation and enforcement measures (CEM) that are binding on all NAFO Contracting Parties have entered into force. They are to be incorporated into Union law to the extent that they are not already provided for by Union law. |
(3) |
Regulation (EU) 2019/833 should therefore be adapted in order to apply NAFO mesh measurement norms, to introduce the definition of ‘fishing vessel’ used by NAFO so as to allow the Union control and enforcement authorities to work in line with other NAFO Contracting Parties, and to improve the information flow between the Member States’ authorities, the Commission and the NAFO Executive Secretary. |
(4) |
In accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2019/473 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), the mission of the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) is, inter alia, to organise the operational coordination of fisheries control and inspection activities by Member States for the implementation of international control and inspection programmes such as the NAFO Joint Inspection and Surveillance Scheme, and to assist Member States in reporting information on fishing activities and control and inspection activities to the Commission and third parties. It is therefore appropriate for EFCA to be the body that receives from Member States and transmits to the NAFO Executive Secretary information relating to control and inspection, such as at sea inspection reports and notifications of the control observers scheme. |
(5) |
The CEM procedure for Contracting Parties to transmit information to the NAFO Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) website involves sending the information to be transmitted to the NAFO Executive Secretary. It is therefore necessary to update the relevant provisions in Regulation (EU) 2019/833 to reflect that change and to clarify the channels to be used by Member States to transmit the relevant information. |
(6) |
It is also necessary to introduce the CEM provisions for the protection of Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus), to align the provisions of chartering arrangements with those in the CEM and to specify the need for the consent of the port State Contracting Party to be given to inspectors of another Contracting Party for their deployment. |
(7) |
Certain provisions of the CEM are likely to be amended at NAFO annual meetings due to the introduction of new technical measures in relation to changing stock biomass and a review of area restrictions for bottom fishing activities. Therefore, in order to swiftly incorporate into Union law future amendments to the CEM before the start of fishing season, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the regulation of mesh sizes, sorting grids or grates and toggle chains in Northern prawn fishing and in respect of area restrictions for the bottom fishing activities. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (5). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts. |
(8) |
Regulation (EU) 2019/833 should therefore be amended, |
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2019/833
Regulation (EU) 2019/833 is amended as follows:
(1) |
Article 3 is amended as follows:
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(2) |
Article 5 is amended as follows:
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(3) |
in Article 6(1), points (d) and (e) are replaced by the following:
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(4) |
in Article 7(2), points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:
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(5) |
the following Article is inserted: ‘Article 9a Cod in Division 3M 1. The following control measures shall apply to vessels with more than 1 250 kg of cod catches from Division 3M on board:
2. Each Member State shall inspect vessels with less than 1 250 kg of cod catches from Division 3M on board on a risk management basis. 3. The Commission or a body designated by it shall ensure that the information referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 is transmitted to the NAFO Executive Secretary without delay, for posting on the MCS website.’; |
(6) |
Article 10 is amended as follows:
|
(7) |
in Article 12, the following paragraphs are added: ‘9. It shall be prohibited to conduct a directed fishery for Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) in the Regulatory Area. 10. Fishing vessels flying the flag of a Member State shall undertake all reasonable efforts to minimise incidental catch and mortality, and, where alive, release Greenland sharks in a manner that causes the least possible harm.’; |
(8) |
Article 13 is amended as follows:
|
(9) |
in Article 14, the following paragraph is inserted: ‘3a. Fishing vessels conducting a directed trawl fishery for cod in Division 3M shall use a sorting grid for the purpose of reducing the catches of smaller individuals of cod with a minimum bar spacing of 55 mm. The sorting grid shall be placed in the top side panel of the trawl preceding the codend.’; |
(10) |
Article 18 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 18 Area restrictions for bottom fishing activities 1. Until 31 December 2021, no vessel shall engage in bottom fishing activities in any of the areas illustrated in Figure 3 of the CEM referred to in point 14 of the Annex to this Regulation, and defined by connecting the coordinates specified in Table 5 of the CEM referred to in point 15 of the Annex to this Regulation, in their numerical order and back to coordinate 1. 2. Until 31 December 2021, no vessel shall engage in bottom fishing activities in the area of Division 3O illustrated in Figure 4 of the CEM referred to in point 16 of the Annex to this Regulation, and defined by connecting the coordinates specified in Table 6 of the CEM referred to in point 17 of the Annex to this Regulation, in their numerical order and back to coordinate 1. 3. Until 31 December 2021, no vessel shall engage in bottom fishing activities in areas 1-13 illustrated in Figure 5 of the CEM referred to in point 18 of the Annex to this Regulation, and defined by connecting the coordinates specified in Table 7 of the CEM referred to in point 19 of the Annex to this Regulation, in numerical order and back to coordinate 1.’; |
(11) |
Article 23 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 23 Chartering arrangements 1. For the purpose of this Article, “chartering Contracting Party” refers to the Contracting Party that holds an allocation as indicated in Annex I.A and Annex I.B to the CEM, or the Member State that holds a fishing opportunities allocation, and “flag State Contracting Party” refers to the Contracting Party or to the Member State in which the chartered vessel is registered. 2. All or part of the fishing allocation of a chartering Contracting Party can be harvested using a chartered authorised vessel (“chartered vessel”) flying the flag of another Contracting Party, subject to the following conditions:
3. All catch and by-catch taken by the chartered vessel in accordance with the chartering arrangement shall be attributed to the chartering Contracting Party. 4. The flag State Contracting Party shall not authorise the chartered vessel, when conducting fishing operations under the chartering arrangement, to fish any of the flag State Contracting Party’s allocations or under another charter at the same time. 5. No transhipment at sea may be carried out without the prior authorisation of the chartering Contracting Party, which shall ensure that it is carried out under the supervision of an observer on board. 6. The flag State Contracting Party shall notify the NAFO Executive Secretary in writing prior to the start of the chartering arrangement of its consent to the chartering arrangement and provide to the chartered vessel a copy of the notice issued by the NAFO Executive Secretary with the details of the chartering. 6a. Where the chartered vessel is a Union fishing vessel, the flag Member State shall notify the Commission in writing prior to the start of the chartering arrangement. Where the Commission considers that the relevant conditions established in the CEM are met, it shall notify the NAFO Executive Secretary of the consent to the chartering arrangement. 6b. The chartering Contracting Party shall, before the date the chartering arrangement is effective, provide the following information in writing to the NAFO Executive Secretary and to the chartered vessel, which shall at all times carry a copy on board:
6c. Where the chartering Contracting Party is the Union, the chartering Member State shall notify the information referred to in paragraph 6b to the Commission before the chartering arrangement becomes effective. Where the Commission considers that the relevant conditions established in the CEM are met, it shall transmit the information to the NAFO Executive Secretary. 7. Where the chartered vessel is a Union fishing vessel, the flag Member State shall notify the Commission immediately upon the occurrence of any of the following events:
8. The flag State Contracting Party shall maintain a separate record of catch and by-catch data from fishing operations in accordance with every charter of a vessel flying its flag and report them to the Commission, which shall transmit it to the chartering Contracting Party and the NAFO Executive Secretary.’; |
(12) |
Article 25 is amended as follows:
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(13) |
Article 27 is amended as follows:
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(14) |
Article 28 is amended as follows:
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(15) |
Article 30 is amended as follows:
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(16) |
Article 33 is amended as follows:
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(17) |
Article 34 is amended as follows:
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(18) |
Article 35 is amended as follows:
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(19) |
Article 39 is amended as follows:
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(20) |
Article 45 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 45 Sighting and inspection of non-Contracting Party vessels in the Regulatory Area Each Member State or, when appropriate, EFCA, with an inspection and/or surveillance presence in the Regulatory Area authorised under the Joint Inspection and Surveillance Scheme that sights or identifies a non-Contracting Party vessel engaged in fishing activities in the Regulatory Area shall:
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(21) |
in Article 50(2) the following points are added:
|
(22) |
the Annex is amended as follows:
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Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 14 July 2021.
For the European Parliament
The President
D. M. SASSOLI
For the Council
The President
A. LOGAR
(1) OJ C 429, 11.12.2020, p. 279.
(2) Position of the European Parliament of 23 June 2021 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 13 July 2021.
(3) Regulation (EU) 2019/833 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 laying down conservation and enforcement measures applicable in the Regulatory Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, amending Regulation (EU) 2016/1627 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2115/2005 and (EC) No 1386/2007 (OJ L 141, 28.5.2019, p. 1).
(4) Regulation (EU) 2019/473 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 on the European Fisheries Control Agency (OJ L 83, 25.3.2019, p. 18).