Section 1 — Marking and identification of Union fishing vessels
Conditions relating to the marking of Union fishing vessels
1. A Union fishing vessel shall be marked with the name of the vessel, if available, and a unique vessel identifier (UVI) as follows:
(a)
the letter(s) of the port or district in which the Union fishing vessel is registered, where applicable, and the number(s) under which it is registered shall be painted or displayed on both sides of the bow or on one side of the bow and the other side of the stern, as high above the water as possible to be clearly visible from the sea and the air, in a colour contrasting with the background on which they are painted;
(b)
for Union fishing vessels over 10 metres length overall and less than 17 metres length overall, the height of the letters and numbers shall be at least 25 centimetres with a line thickness of at least 4 centimetres. For Union fishing vessels of 17 metres length overall or more, the height of the letters and numbers shall be at least 45 centimetres, with a line thickness of at least 6 centimetres;
(c)
the flag Member State may require the international radio call sign (IRCS) or the external registration letters and numbers to be painted on top of the wheelhouse and to be clearly visible from the air, in a colour contrasting with the background on which it is painted;
(d)
the contrasting colours shall be white and black;
(e)
the external registration letters and numbers painted or displayed on the hull of the Union fishing vessel shall not be removable, effaced, altered, illegible, covered or concealed.
2. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) ship identification number scheme, as adopted by Resolution A.1117(30) on 6 December 2017 and as referred to in Chapter XI-1, Regulation 3 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention shall apply to:
(a)
Union fishing vessels or fishing vessels controlled by Union operators under a chartering arrangement, of 100 tons of GT or 100 tons of Gross Registered Tonnage and above, or 24 metres length overall and above, operating exclusively inside Union waters;
(b)
Union fishing vessels or fishing vessels controlled by Union operators under a chartering arrangement of 12 metres length overall and above, operating outside Union waters;
(c)
third-country fishing vessels authorised to carry out fishing activities in Union waters.
Vessel identification documents to be carried on board a Union fishing vessel
1. The master of a Union fishing vessel shall carry on board or have digital access to documents issued by a competent authority of the Member State in which it is registered, showing at least the following characteristics of the fishing vessel:
(a)
the name of the fishing vessel, if available;
(b)
the letters of the port or district in which it is registered, and the number(s) under which it is registered;
(c)
the common fleet register (CFR) number or, if not applicable, the IMO number or other unique vessel identifier of the fishing vessel;
(d)
the IRCS, if available;
(e)
the names and addresses of the owner(s) and, where applicable, the charterer;
(f)
the length overall in metres, engine power in kW, gross tonnage in GT and, for Union fishing vessels which entered into service from 1 January 1987 onwards, date of entry into service, as defined in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/1130 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 7 ) .
2. Masters of Union fishing vessels of 17 metres length overall or more with at least one fish room shall keep on board or have digital access to accurate drawings with description of all fish rooms and fish storage locations, including the indication of all access points and of their storage capacity in cubic metres.
3. Masters of Union fishing vessels with seawater tanks, including chilled or refrigerated tanks, shall keep on board or have digital access to an up-to-date document indicating the calibration of the tanks in cubic metres at 10-centimeter intervals.
4. Where applicable, masters of Union catching vessels authorised to conduct on-board weighing under Article 60(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 shall keep on board or have digital access to the relevant authorisation documents, along with certification documents for the weighing systems used for weighing fishery products on board.
5. The documents referred to in paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 shall be issued or certified by the competent authority of the flag Member State. Any modification of the characteristics contained in the documents referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4, shall be certified by a competent authority of the flag Member State.
6. The documents referred to in this Article shall be presented for the purposes of control and inspection at the request of the officials.
Section 2 — Marking and identification of fishing gear, buoy, FAD and craft
Conditions relating to the marking of craft and FAD
1. Any craft or FAD carried on board Union catching vessels shall be marked with:
(a)
the external registration letters and number(s) of the Union catching vessel(s) using them, or with another identifier required under the applicable regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO) rules; and
(b)
a unique identification number, where available.
2. It shall be prohibited to carry out fishing activities with craft or FADs which are not identifiable and marked in accordance with paragraph 1.
General rules on the marking of trawls, passive gear, marker buoys and cords
1. The provisions contained in Articles 10 to 13 on the marking of gear shall apply to gear used by Union catching vessels in all Union waters.
2. The provisions contained in Articles 14 to 18 on marker buoys and cords shall apply to Union catching vessels carrying out fishing operations in waters outside 12 nautical miles measured from the coastal Member State’s territorial sea baseline. Unless otherwise provided under the rules of the common fisheries policy, coastal Member States may extend the relevant requirements to waters within 12 nautical miles from their territorial sea baseline.
3. Unless otherwise provided under Union legislation, it shall be prohibited to:
(a)
carry out fishing activities with passive gear, marker buoys, or trawls which are not marked and identifiable in accordance with the provisions of Articles 11 to 18; and
(b)
carry on board:
(i)
trawls which do not comply with the conditions in Article 11;
(ii)
passive gear which do not comply with the conditions in Article 12(2); and
(iii)
buoys and cords linking the buoys to the passive gear which are not marked in accordance with Article 14 and Article 15(3).
Rules relating to marking of trawls
The master of a Union catching vessel, or their representative shall ensure that each trawl, including trawl’s equipment, carried on board or used to conduct fishing operations clearly displays the external registration letters and number(s) of that catching vessel on all the following parts:
(a)
the beam of each beam trawl assembly, where present;
(b)
the trawl door, where present;
(c)
each selvedge of the upper section of the codend.
Rules relating to marking of passive gear
1. The master of a Union catching vessel, or their representative shall ensure that each passive gear carried on board or used for fishing is clearly marked and identifiable in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
2. Each passive gear used for fishing shall permanently display the external registration letters and number(s) shown on the hull of the catching vessel to which it belongs:
(a)
for nets, on a label attached to the upper first row, and on the footrope;
(b)
for lines, on a label on the mainline and on every float;
(c)
for traps, on a label attached to the trap itself and to the rope(s), and specifically for pots, on a label attached to the ground rope and on every pot; and
(d)
for passive gear extending more than 1 nautical mile, on labels attached in accordance with (a), (b) and (c) at regular intervals not exceeding 1 nautical mile, so that no part of the passive gear extending more than 1 nautical mile shall be left unmarked.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, for catching vessels up to 15 metres in length overall fishing exclusively in the waters of their flag Member State and operating within four nautical miles from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, that flag Member State may establish an alternative marking system for the identification of the catching vessel concerned.
Rules relating to labels for the marking of fishing gears
1. Labels for the marking of fishing gears shall meet the following conditions:
(a)
they are made of durable material;
(b)
they are securely fitted to the gear;
(c)
they are clearly readable and identifiable; and
(d)
they are not removable, effaced, altered, illegible, covered, or concealed.
2. Within waters under their sovereignty or jurisdiction, coastal Member States may authorise the marking of fishing gear with labels that can be read using electronic devices or other equivalent means, provided that their competent authorities are equipped with the necessary tools and technology to identify and read those labels, and that the conditions laid down in paragraph 1 are fulfilled.
Rules relating to marking of buoys
1. The master of a Union catching vessel, or their representative shall ensure that two end marker buoys and intermediary marker buoys, rigged in accordance with Annex V, are fixed to each passive gear used for fishing and are deployed in accordance with the provisions of this Section, where applicable.
2. Each end marker buoy and intermediary buoy shall display the external registration letters and number(s) displayed on the hull of the Union catching vessel to which they belong, or by which they were deployed, in accordance with the following conditions:
(a)
letters and number(s) shall be displayed as high above the water as possible to be clearly visible; and
(b)
in a colour contrasting with the surface on which they are displayed.
3. The letters and number(s) displayed on the marker buoy shall not be effaced, altered, or allowed to become illegible.
Rules relating to the setting and marking of cords
1. The cords linking the buoys to the passive gear shall be of submersible material or shall be weighted down in such a way that no part of the cord reaches the water surface.
2. The cords linking the end marker buoys to each gear shall be fixed at the ends of that gear.
3. The cords linking the buoys to the passive gear shall be marked with a label in accordance with Article 13, which shall contain the information referred to in Article 14(2).
Rules relating to the deployment of end marker buoys
1. End marker buoys shall be deployed so that each end of the passive gear may be determined at any time.
2. The mast of each end marker buoy shall have a height of at least 1 meter above the sea level measured from the top of the float to the lower edge of the bottom most flag.
3. End marker buoys shall be coloured but shall not be red or green.
4. Each end marker buoy shall feature:
(a)
one or two rectangular flag(s); where two flags are required on the same buoy, the distance between them shall be at least 20 centimetres; flags indicating the extremities of the same gear shall be of the same colour and may not be white and shall be of the same size;
(b)
one or two light(s), which shall be yellow and give one flash each 5 seconds (F1 Y 5s) and be visible from a minimum distance of 2 nautical miles.
5. Each end marker buoy may include a top sign on the top of the buoy with one or two striped luminous bands which shall be neither red nor green and shall be at least 6 centimetres broad.
Rules relating to the fixing of end marker buoys
End marker buoys shall be fixed to passive gear as follows:
(a)
the buoy in the western sector (meaning the half compass circle from south through west to and including north) shall be rigged with two flags, two striped luminous bands, two lights and a label referred to in Article 13;
(b)
the buoy in the eastern sector (meaning the half compass circle from north through east to and including the south) shall be rigged with one flag one striped luminous band, one light and a label referred to in Article 13.
Rules for the fixing of intermediary marker buoys
1. Intermediary marker buoys shall be fixed to passive gear extending more than 5 nautical miles as follows:
(a)
intermediary marker buoys shall be deployed at distances of not more than 5 nautical miles so that no part of the gear extending 5 nautical miles or more shall be left unmarked;
(b)
intermediary marker buoys shall be fitted with a flashing light which shall be yellow and give one flash every 5 seconds (F1 Y 5s) and is visible from a minimum distance of 2 nautical miles.
2. Intermediary marker buoys shall have the same characteristics as those of the end marker buoy in the eastern sector, except that the flag shall be white.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, in the Baltic Sea, intermediary marker buoys shall be fixed to passive gear extending more than 1 nautical mile. Intermediary marker buoys shall be deployed at distances of not more than 1 nautical mile so that no part of the gear extending 1 nautical mile or more shall be left unmarked. Every fifth intermediary marker buoys shall be fitted with a radar reflector giving an echo of at least 2 nautical miles.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
