Legal provisions of COM(2005)472 - Measures for the recovery of the stock of European Eel - Main contents
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dossier | COM(2005)472 - Measures for the recovery of the stock of European Eel. |
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document | COM(2005)472 |
date | September 18, 2007 |
Contents
- Article 1 - Subject-matter
- Article 2 - Establishment of Eel Management Plans
- Article 3 - Exemption from the obligation to prepare an Eel Management Plan
- Article 4 - Communication of Eel Management Plans
- Article 5 - Approval and implementation of Eel Management Plans
- Article 6 - Transboundary Eel Management Plans
- Article 7 - Measures concerning restocking
- Article 8 - Measures concerning Community waters
- Article 9 - Reporting and Evaluation
- Article 10 - Control and enforcement in waters other than Community waters
- Article 11 - Information concerning fishing activities
- Article 12 - Control and enforcement concerning imports and exports of eel
- Article 13 - Entry into force
Article 1 - Subject-matter
2. As regards the Black Sea and the river systems connected to it, the Commission shall take a Decision in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(2) 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 (5), after consultation of the Scientific Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries by 31 December 2007 on whether these waters constitute natural habitats for the European eel in accordance with Article 3 of this Regulation.
3. Measures under this Regulation shall be adopted and implemented without prejudice to the relevant provisions of Directives 92/43/EEC and 2000/60/EC.
Article 2 - Establishment of Eel Management Plans
2. In defining eel river basins, Member States shall have the maximum possible regard for the administrative arrangements referred to in Article 3 of Directive 2000/60/EC.
3. For each eel river basin defined under paragraph 1, Member States shall prepare an Eel Management Plan.
4. The objective of each Eel Management Plan shall be to reduce anthropogenic mortalities so as to permit with high probability the escapement to the sea of at least 40 % of the silver eel biomass relative to the best estimate of escapement that would have existed if no anthropogenic influences had impacted the stock. The Eel Management Plan shall be prepared with the purpose of achieving this objective in the long term.
5. The target level of escapement shall be determined, taking into account the data available for each eel river basin, in one or more of the following three ways:
(a) | use of data collected in the most appropriate period prior to 1980, provided these are available in sufficient quantity and quality; |
(b) | habitat-based assessment of potential eel production, in the absence of anthropogenic mortality factors; |
(c) | with reference to the ecology and hydrography of similar river systems. |
6. Each Eel Management Plan shall contain a description and an analysis of the present situation of the eel population in the eel river basin and relate it to the target level of escapement laid down in paragraph 4.
7. Each Eel Management Plan shall include measures to attain, monitor and verify the objective set out in paragraph 4. The Member States may define the means depending on local and regional conditions.
8. An Eel Management Plan may contain, but is not limited to, the following measures:
— | reducing commercial fishing activity, |
— | restricting recreational fishing, |
— | restocking measures, |
— | structural measures to make rivers passable and improve river habitats, together with other environmental measures, |
— | transportation of silver eel from inland waters to waters from which they can escape freely to the Sargasso Sea, |
— | combating predators, |
— | temporary switching-off of hydro-electric power turbines, |
— | measures related to aquaculture. |
9. Each Eel Management Plan shall contain a time schedule for the attainment of the target level of escapement laid down in paragraph 4, following a gradual approach and depending on an expected recruitment level; it shall include measures that will be applied as of the first year of application of the Eel Management Plan.
10. In the Eel Management Plan, each Member State shall implement appropriate measures as soon as possible to reduce the eel mortality caused by factors outside the fishery, including hydroelectric turbines, pumps or predators, unless this is not necessary to attain the objective of the plan.
11. Each Eel Management Plan shall include a description of the control and enforcement measures which will apply in waters other than Community waters in accordance with Article 10.
12. An Eel Management Plan shall constitute a management plan adopted at national level within the framework of a Community conservation measure as referred to in Article 24(1)(v) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 of 27 July 2006 on the European Fisheries Fund (6).
Article 3 - Exemption from the obligation to prepare an Eel Management Plan
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission not later than 1 January 2008 a request for exemption prepared in accordance with paragraph 1.
3. On the basis of a technical and scientific evaluation by the Scientific Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries or by other appropriate scientific bodies, the request for exemption shall be approved by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.
4. Where the Commission approves a request for exemption, Article 4 shall not apply to the Member State concerned.
Article 4 - Communication of Eel Management Plans
2. A Member State which has not submitted an Eel Management Plan to the Commission for approval by 31 December 2008 shall either reduce fishing effort by at least 50 % relative to the average effort deployed from 2004 to 2006 or reduce fishing effort to ensure a reduction in eel catches by at least 50 % relative to the average catch from 2004 to 2006, either by shortening the fishing season for eel or by other means. This reduction shall be implemented from 1 January 2009.
3. The reduction in catches set out in paragraph 2 may be substituted in whole or in part by immediate measures concerning other anthropogenic mortality factors, which will allow a number of migrating silver eels equivalent to that which the reduction of catches would allow to escape to the sea to spawn.
Article 5 - Approval and implementation of Eel Management Plans
2. Member States shall implement the Eel Management Plans approved by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1 from 1 July 2009, or from the earliest possible time before that date.
3. From 1 July 2009, or from the date of implementation of an Eel Management Plan before that date, fishing for eel of the species Anguilla anguilla shall be permitted the whole year round provided that the fisheries conform to the specifications and restrictions set out in an Eel Management Plan approved by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1.
4. A Member State which has submitted an Eel Management Plan to the Commission for approval not later than 31 December 2008, which cannot be approved by the Commission in accordance with paragraph 1, shall either reduce fishing effort by at least 50 % relative to the average effort deployed from 2004 to 2006 or reduce fishing effort to ensure a reduction in eel catches by at least 50 % relative to the average catch from 2004 to 2006, either by shortening the fishing season for eel or by other means. This reduction shall be implemented within three months of the decision not to approve the plan.
5. The reduction in catches set out in paragraph 4 may be replaced in whole or in part by immediate measures concerning other anthropogenic mortality factors, which will allow a number of migrating silver eels equivalent to that which the reduction of catches would allow to escape to the sea to spawn.
6. In the event that the Commission cannot approve an Eel Management Plan, the Member State may submit a revised plan within three months of the decision not to approve the plan.
The revised Eel Management Plan shall be approved in accordance with the procedure established in paragraph 1. The implementation of the reduction in catches set out in paragraph 4 shall not apply if a revised plan is approved by the Commission.
Article 6 - Transboundary Eel Management Plans
If coordination is in danger of resulting in such a delay that it will become impossible to submit the Eel Management Plan on time, Member States may submit Eel Management Plans for their national part of the river basin.
2. Where an eel river basin extends beyond the territory of the Community, the Member States involved shall endeavour to develop an Eel Management Plan in coordination with the relevant third countries, and the competence of any relevant regional fisheries organisation shall be respected. If the relevant third countries do not participate in the joint preparation of an Eel Management Plan, the Member States concerned may submit Eel Management Plans for the part of the eel river basin situated within their territory, with the objective of achieving the target level of escapement laid down in Article 2(4).
3. Articles 2, 4 and 5 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the transboundary plans referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article.
Article 7 - Measures concerning restocking
2. The 60 % for restocking is to be set out in an Eel Management Plan established in accordance with Article 2. It shall start at least at 35 % in the first year of application of an Eel Management Plan and it shall increase by steps of at least 5 % per year. The level of 60 % shall be achieved by 31 July 2013.
3. In order to ensure that the respective percentages set out in paragraph 2, of eels less than 12 cm in length caught are used in a restocking programme, Members States must establish an appropriate reporting system.
4. The transfer of eels for restocking shall be part of an Eel Management Plan as defined in Article 2. Eel Management Plans shall specify the quantity of eels of less than 20 cm in length needed for restocking for the purpose of increasing escapement levels of silver eels.
5. The Commission shall annually report to the Council on the evolution of market prices for eels of less than 12 cm in length. For this purpose the Member States concerned shall establish an appropriate system to monitor prices and shall report annually to the Commission on these prices.
6. In the event of a significant decline of average market prices for eels used for restocking, as compared to those of eels used for other purposes, the Member State concerned shall inform the Commission. The Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, shall take appropriate measures to address the situation, which may include a temporary reduction of the percentages referred to in paragraph 2.
7. The Commission shall, not later than 1 July 2011, report to the Council and evaluate the measures concerning restocking including the evolution of market prices. In the light of this evaluation, the Council shall decide by qualified majority, on a proposal from the Commission, on appropriate measures to balance the measures concerning restocking while achieving the percentages referred to in paragraph 2.
8. Restocking shall be deemed to be a conservation measure for the purposes of Article 38(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006, provided that:
— | it is part of an Eel Management Plan established in accordance with Article 2, |
— | it concerns eels less than 20 cm in length, and |
— | it contributes to the achievement of the 40 % target level of escapement as referred to in Article 2(4). |
Article 8 - Measures concerning Community waters
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, Community waters are those waters seaward of the boundary of those eel river basins which constitute natural eel habitats as defined by Member States according to Article 2(1).
Article 9 - Reporting and Evaluation
(a) | for each Member State, the proportion of the silver eel biomass that escapes to the sea to spawn, or the proportion of the silver eel biomass leaving the territory of that Member State as part of a seaward migration to spawn, relative to the target level of escapement set out in Article 2(4); |
(b) | the level of fishing effort that catches eel each year, and the reduction effected in accordance with Articles 4(2) and 5(4); |
(c) | the level of mortality factors outside the fishery, and the reduction effected in accordance with Article 2(10); |
(d) | the amount of eel less than 12 cm in length caught and the proportions of this utilised for different purposes. |
2. The Commission shall, not later than 31 December 2013, present a report to the European Parliament and the Council with a statistical and scientific evaluation of the outcome of the implementation of the Eel Management Plans, accompanied by the opinion of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries.
3. The Commission shall, in the light of the report referred to in paragraph 2, propose any appropriate measures to achieve with high probability the recovery of the stock of European eel and the Council shall decide by qualified majority on alternative measures to achieve the target level of escapement set out in Article 2(4) or a reduction of fishing effort in accordance with Articles 4(2) and 5(4).
Article 10 - Control and enforcement in waters other than Community waters
2. The control and catch monitoring system shall contain a thorough description of all systems of allocation of fishing rights in eel river basins which constitute natural eel habitats as defined by Member States according to Article 2(1), including privately owned waters.
Article 11 - Information concerning fishing activities
— | a list of all fishing vessels flying its flag authorised to fish for eel in Community waters in accordance with Article 8, notwithstanding the overall length of the vessel, |
— | a list of all fishing vessels, commercial entities or fishermen, authorised to fish for eel in eel river basins which constitute natural eel habitats as defined by Member States according to Article 2(1), |
— | a list of all auction centres or other bodies or persons authorised by Member States to undertake the first marketing of eel. |
2. Member States shall establish on a regular basis an estimate of the number of recreational fishermen and their catches of eels.
3. On a request from the Commission, Member States shall provide the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.
Article 12 - Control and enforcement concerning imports and exports of eel
— | take the measures necessary to identify the origin and ensure the traceability of all live eels imported or exported from their territory, |
— | determine whether the eel harvested in the Community area and exported from their territory was caught in a manner consistent with Community conservation measures, |
— | take measures to determine whether the eel harvested in the waters of any relevant regional fisheries organisation and imported into their territory was caught in a manner consistent with the rules agreed in the regional fisheries organisation in question. |
Article 13 - Entry into force
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.