Considerations on COM(2024)114 - Amendment of and correcting Regulation (EU) 2024/257 fixing 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 - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)114 - Amendment of and correcting Regulation (EU) 2024/257 fixing for 2024, 2025 and 2026 the fishing opportunities for certain ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)114  |
| date | March 26, 2024 |
(2)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.
(3)In 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 10 (‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’), the Union and the United Kingdom established, for the first time, TACs for: (i) witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) in Union waters of ICES division 3a (Skagerrak-Kattegat); and (ii) lemon sole (Microstomus kitt) in that same area. Pending an agreement between Member States on how those fishing opportunities are to be allocated, the TACs for those stocks were marked ‘to be established’ in Regulation (EU) 2024/257. In order to allow Member States to use those fishing opportunities, the TACs and Union quotas for those stocks should be fixed at the levels agreed with the United Kingdom and, if relevant, be allocated to Member States in line with the outcome of the discussions between Member States on such allocation
(4)[Between 9 and 13 March 2023, bilateral consultations between the Union and the United Kingdom 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 were conducted. Those consultations were conducted pursuant to Article 498(2), (4) and (6) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and on the basis of the Union position endorsed by the Council on 2 March 2023. The outcome of those consultations was documented in a Written Record. The relevant TAC should therefore be set at the level agreed with the United Kingdom.] [The recital and the relevant provisions will be updated after the conclusion of consultations between the Union and the United Kingdom.]
(5)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.
(6)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.
(7)[Fishing effort limits for Union 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. Member States are to transmit those plans to the Commission by 31 January each year, pursuant to Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2053 of the European Parliament and of the Council 11 . Those plans are then compiled by the Commission and form the basis for the establishment of an 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. The latest Union annual plan was approved by ICCAT on 8 March 2023. The Union fishing effort limits and Union maximum farming input and capacity for 2023 should therefore be amended in line with that annual plan.] [The recital and the relevant provisions will be updated after approval by ICCAT of the Union annual plan.]
(8)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 lists of protected species in Appendices I and II of that Convention. Those measures should therefore be implemented into Union law by prohibiting: (i) Union fishing vessels in all waters; and (ii) third country vessels in Union waters, to fish for, retain on board, tranship or land that species. Article 98(2) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2124 of the European Parliament and of the Council however already established such a prohibition for sand tiger shark in the Mediterranean. To avoid overlapping provisions on the same subject matter, in the Mediterranean, such a prohibition should therefore only be established for Union vessels in all waters other than the Mediterranean, and for third country vessels in Union waters.
(9)Both Article 41, paragraph 4, 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. The former provision should therefore be deleted for reasons of legal clarity.
(10)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.
(11)Certain errors in the TAC tables in the Annexes to Regulation (EU) 2024/257 should be corrected. Those include errors concerning: (i) Member States quotas; (ii) the type of TAC (i.e. 'analytical TAC’ or ‘precautionary TAC’); (iii) area descriptions; and (iv) reporting codes. In addition, in those Annexes, certain provisions should be clarified in: (i) the TAC tables for undulate ray (Raja undulata) in respectively Union waters of ICES subarea 8 and of subarea 9; and (ii) the TAC tables for mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
(12)Regulation (EU) 2024/257 should therefore be amended and corrected accordingly.
(13)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.
(14)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.
(15)Given the urgency to avoid interruptions of fishing activities, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,