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Management plans for North Atlantic swordfish
Member States that have been allocated a quota and whose vessels are fishing for North Atlantic swordfish shall submit to the Commission their management plans by 15 August of each year. The Commission shall forward that information to the ICCAT Secretariat by 15 September of each year.
Minimum size for North Atlantic swordfish
1. Targeting, retaining on board or transhipping, landing, transporting, storing, displaying or offering for sale, selling or marketing swordfish of less than 25 kg live weight, or, alternatively, 125 cm of lower jaw fork length, shall be prohibited. Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 shall not apply in such cases. 2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, incidental catches of maximum 15 % of swordfish weighing less than 25 kg live weight or 125 cm of lower jaw fork length may be retained on board, transhipped, transferred, landed, transported, stored, sold, displayed or offered for sale. 3. The tolerance of 15 % referred to in paragraph 2 shall be calculated on the basis of the number of swordfish of the vessel's total swordfish catch per landing.
Vessels authorised to target Mediterranean swordfish
1. Member States shall issue authorisations, in accordance with the provisions laid down in a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets ( 19 ) , to target Mediterranean swordfish. 2. By 8 January of each year, Member States shall submit to the Commission in the format set out in the Guidelines for submitting data and information required by ICCAT: (a) a list of catching vessels flying their flag authorised to target Mediterranean swordfish; (b) a list of vessels authorised by them to target Mediterranean swordfish in the course of recreational fisheries. 3. The Commission shall forward the information referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 2 to the ICCAT Secretariat by 15 January of each year. 4. Member States shall notify the Commission, without delay and at the latest within 30 days, of any addition to, deletion from or modification of the lists of vessels referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 2. The Commission shall, without delay and at the latest within 45 days from the date of the addition to, deletion from or modification of those lists, submit that information to the ICCAT Secretariat.
By-catch
Union catching vessels not included in the list referred to in point (a) of Article 20(2) shall not be authorised to catch, retain on board, tranship, transport, process or land swordfish exceeding 5 % of the total catch on board by weight and/or number of pieces.
Special fishing authorisation
1. Union catching vessels included in the list referred to in point (a) of Article 20(2) and which use harpoons or longlines shall have a special fishing authorisation. 2. By 30 June of each year, Member States shall submit electronically to the Commission the list of authorisations referred to in paragraph 1 and delivered for the previous year. The Commission shall forward that information to the ICCAT Secretariat by 31 July of each year.
Closed fishing seasons
1. Mediterranean swordfish shall not be caught (either as targeted species or as by-catch), retained on board, transhipped or landed during the periods from 1 to 31 March and from 1 October to 30 November of each year. 2. Member States shall monitor the effectiveness of the closure and shall submit to the Commission by 15 August of each year all relevant information on appropriate controls and inspections carried out to ensure the compliance with paragraph 1. The Commission shall forward that information to the ICCAT Secretariat at least two months before the ICCAT annual meeting.
Minimum size for Mediterranean swordfish
1. Only entire specimens of swordfish, without removal of any external part, or gilled and gutted specimens, may be retained on board, transhipped, landed and transported. 2. Catching, retaining on board, transhipping, landing, transporting, storing, displaying or offering for sale of Mediterranean swordfish measuring less than 90 cm of lower jaw fork length or, alternatively, weighing less than 10 kg of round weight or 9 kg of gilled and gutted weight, or 7,5 kg of dressed weight (gilled, gutted, fins off, part of head off), shall be prohibited. 3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, incidental catches of Mediterranean swordfish below the minimum size set out in that paragraph may be retained on board, transhipped, landed, transported, stored, displayed or offered for sale if they do not exceed 5 % by weight or number of pieces per landing of the total Mediterranean swordfish catch on board the vessel.
Technical specifications of the fishing gear for vessels authorised to target Mediterranean swordfish
1. By way of derogation from Article 12 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 ( 20 ) , the maximum number of hooks that may be set by or taken on board of vessels targeting Mediterranean swordfish shall be fixed at 2 800 hooks. 2. In addition to the maximum number referred to in paragraph 1, a second set of rigged hooks may be allowed on board for trips longer than two days provided that it is duly lashed and stowed in lower decks so that it may not readily be used. 3. Hook size shall not be smaller than 7 cm of height. 4. The length of the pelagic longlines shall not exceed 30 nautical miles (55,56 km).
Reporting obligations for Mediterranean swordfish
1. Member States shall submit to the Commission, by 30 June of each year, the following information concerning catching vessels flying their flag that were authorised to carry out pelagic longline fisheries or harpoon fisheries targeting Mediterranean swordfish during the preceding year: (a) information on the catching vessel: (i) name of the vessel (in the absence of the name, the registry number without country initials shall be indicated); (ii) Union fleet register number as defined in Annex I to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218 ( 21 ) ; (iii) ICCAT record number; (b) information related to fishing activities, based on sampling or on the whole fleet: (i) fishing period(s) and total annual number of fishing days of the vessel, by target species and area; (ii) geographical areas, by ICCAT statistical rectangles, for the fishing activities carried out by the vessel, by target species and area; (iii) type of vessel, by target species and area; (iv) number of hooks used by the vessel, by target species and area; (v) number of longline units used by the vessel, by target species and area; (vi) overall length of all longline units for the vessel, by target species and area; (c) data on the catches, in the smallest time-area possible: (i) size and, if possible, age distributions of the catches; (ii) catches and catch composition per vessel; (iii) fishing effort (average fishing days per vessel, average number of hooks per vessel, average longline units per vessel, average overall length of longline per vessel). 2. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall be submitted in the format established by ICCAT. 3. The Commission shall forward the information referred to in paragraph 1 to the ICCAT Secretariat by 31 July of each year.
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