FISHING EFFORT FOR FISHING VESSELS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN CHANNEL SOLE STOCKS IN ICES DIVISION 7e
ANNEX IISupplementary provisions
ANNEX II FISHING EFFORT FOR FISHING VESSELS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN CHANNEL SOLE STOCKS IN ICES DIVISION 7e Chapter I General provisions 1. SCOPE 1.1. This Annex shall apply to Union fishing vessels of 10 metres length overall or more present in the Western Channel (ICES division 7e) and carrying on board or deploying beam trawls of mesh size equal to or greater than 80 mm as well as static nets, including gillnets, trammel nets and tangle nets, with mesh size equal to or less than 220 mm, in accordance with Article 12(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/472. 1.2. Fishing vessels fishing with static nets with mesh size equal to or greater than 120 mm and with track records of less than 300 kg live weight of sole per year during the 3 previous years, according to their fishing records, shall be exempt from the application of this Annex subject to the following conditions: (a) such fishing vessels caught less than 300 kg live weight of sole during the 2024 management period; (b) such fishing vessels do not tranship any fish at sea to another vessel; and (c) by 31 July 2026, each Member State concerned submits a report to the Commission on those fishing vessels’ catches of sole in the 3 previous years and by 31 January 2027, each Member State concerned submits a report to the Commission on those fishing vessels’catches of sole in 2026. Where any of those conditions is not met, the fishing vessels concerned shall cease to be exempt from the application of this Annex, with immediate effect. 2. DEFINITIONS For the purposes of this Annex, the following definitions apply: (a) ‘gear grouping’ means the grouping consisting of the following two gear categories: (i) beam trawls of mesh size equal to or greater than 80 mm; and (ii) static nets, including gillnets, trammel nets and tangle nets, with mesh size equal to or less than 220 mm; (b) ‘regulated gear’ means any of the two gear categories belonging to the gear grouping; (c) ‘the area’ means ICES division 7e; (d) ‘current management period’ means the period from 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2027. 3. LIMITATION IN ACTIVITY Without prejudice to Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, each Member State shall ensure that, when carrying on board any regulated gear, Union fishing vessels flying its flag and registered in the Union are present within the area for no more than the number of days set out in Chapter III of this Annex. Chapter II Authorisations 4. AUTHORISED FISHING VESSELS 4.1. A Member State shall not authorise fishing with regulated gear in the area by any fishing vessel flying its flag which has no record of such fishing activity in the area in the period from 2003 to 2024, excluding the record of fishing activities as a result of transfer of days between fishing vessels, unless it ensures that the equivalent capacity, measured in kilowatts, is prevented from fishing in the area. 4.2. However, a fishing vessel with a track record of using a regulated gear may be authorised to use a different fishing gear, provided that the number of days allocated to that vessel and that different fishing gear is equal to or greater than the number of days allocated to the regulated gear. 4.3. A fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State which has no quotas in the area shall not be authorised to fish in the area with regulated gear unless the fishing vessel is allocated a quota following a transfer carried out in accordance with Article 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and is allocated days at sea in accordance with point 10 or 11 of this Annex. Chapter III Number of days present within the area allocated to Union fishing vessels 5. MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DAYS During the current management period, the maximum number of days at sea for which a Member State may authorise a fishing vessel flying its flag to be present within the area when carrying on board any regulated gear is set out in Table I. Table I Maximum number of days a fishing vessel may be present within the area by category of regulated gear during the current management period Regulated gear Maximum number of days Beam trawls of mesh size ≥ 80 mm Belgium 176 France 188 Static nets with mesh size ≤ 220 mm Belgium 176 France 191 6. KILOWATT DAYS SYSTEM 6.1. During the current management period, a Member State may manage its fishing effort allocations in accordance with a kilowatt day system. Through that system, it may authorise any fishing vessel concerned by any regulated gear set out in Table I to be present within the area for a maximum number of days that is different from the number set out in that table, provided that the overall amount of kilowatt days corresponding to the regulated gear is respected. 6.2. The overall amount of kilowatt days shall be the sum of all individual fishing efforts allocated to the fishing vessels flying the flag of the Member State concerned and qualified for the regulated gear. Such individual fishing efforts shall be calculated in kilowatt days by multiplying the engine power of each fishing vessel by the number of days at sea it would be granted, according to Table I, if point 6.1 were not applied. 6.3. Any Member State wishing to benefit from the system referred to in point 6.1 shall submit a request to the Commission with reports in electronic format containing, for the regulated gear set out in Table I, the details of the calculation based on: (a) the list of fishing vessels authorised to fish by indicating their Union fishing fleet register number (CFR) and their engine power; and (b) the number of days at sea for which each fishing vessel would have initially been authorised to fish according to Table I and, when point 6.1 is applied, the number of days at sea from which each fishing vessel would benefit. 6.4. On the basis of that request, the Commission shall assess whether the conditions referred to in point 6 are complied with and, where that is the case, may authorise the Member State concerned to benefit from the system referred to in point 6.1. 7. ALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL DAYS FOR PERMANENT CESSATION OF FISHING ACTIVITIES 7.1. An additional number of days at sea on which a fishing vessel may be authorised by its flag Member State to be present within the area when carrying on board any regulated gear may be allocated to a Member State by the Commission on the basis of permanent cessations of fishing activities that have taken place during the preceding management period in accordance with Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 1 ) . The Commission may consider permanent cessations resulting from any other circumstances on a case by case basis, following a written and duly reasoned request from the Member State concerned. Such a request shall identify the fishing vessels concerned and confirm, for each of them, that they shall never resume fishing activities. 7.2. The effort expended in 2003, measured in kilowatt days, of the withdrawn fishing vessels using a given gear grouping shall be divided by the effort expended by all fishing vessels using that gear grouping in 2003. The additional number of days at sea shall be calculated by multiplying the ratio so obtained by the number of days that would have been allocated according to Table I. Any part of a day resulting from that calculation shall be rounded to the nearest whole day. 7.3. Points 7.1 and 7.2 shall not apply where a fishing vessel has been replaced in accordance with point 4.2, or when the withdrawal has already been used in previous years to obtain additional days at sea. 7.4. A Member State wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 7.1 shall submit a request to the Commission by 15 June 2026 with reports in electronic format containing, for the gear grouping as set out in Table I, the details of the calculation based on: (a) lists of withdrawn fishing vessels with their Union fishing fleet register number (CFR) and their engine power; (b) the fishing activity deployed by such fishing vessels in 2003 calculated in days at sea according to the grouping of fishing gear. 7.5. During the current management period, a Member State may reallocate any additionally granted days at sea to all or part of the fishing vessels remaining in its fleet and qualified for the regulated gear. 7.6. When the Commission allocates additional days at sea due to a permanent cessation of fishing activities during the preceding management period, the maximum number of days per Member State and gear set out in Table I shall be adjusted accordingly for the current management period. 8. ALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL DAYS FOR ENHANCED SCIENTIFIC OBSERVER COVERAGE 8.1. Three additional days on which a fishing vessel may be present within the area when carrying on board any regulated gear may be allocated between 1 February 2026 and 31 January 2027 to a Member State by the Commission on the basis of an enhanced programme of scientific observer coverage in partnership between scientists and the fishing industry. Such a programme shall focus in particular on levels of discarding and on catch composition and go beyond the requirements on data collection laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/1004 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 ) and its implementing rules concerning national programmes. 8.2. Scientific observers shall be independent from the owner, the master of the fishing vessel and any crew member. 8.3. A Member State wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 8.1 shall submit a description of its enhanced scientific observer coverage programme to the Commission for approval. 8.4. If an enhanced scientific observer coverage programme submitted by a Member State has been approved by the Commission in the past and the Member State concerned wishes to continue its programme without changes, it shall inform the Commission of the continuation of that programme 4 weeks before the beginning of the period for which the programme applies. Chapter IV Management 9. GENERAL OBLIGATION Member States shall manage the maximum allowable effort in accordance with Articles 26 to 35 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009. 10. MANAGEMENT PERIODS 10.1. A Member State may divide the days present within the area set out in Table I into management periods of durations of one or more calendar months. 10.2. The number of days or hours for which a fishing vessel may be present within the area during a management period shall be fixed by the Member State concerned. 10.3. Where a Member State authorises fishing vessels flying its flag to be present within the area for a given number of hours, the Member State shall continue measuring the consumption of days as specified in point 9. Upon request by the Commission, the Member State concerned shall demonstrate that it has taken precautionary measures to avoid an excessive consumption of days within the area due to a fishing vessel terminating presences in the area before the end of a 24-hour period. Chapter V Exchanges of fishing effort allocations 11. TRANSFER OF DAYS BETWEEN FISHING VESSELS FLYING THE FLAG OF A MEMBER STATE 11.1. A Member State may permit any fishing vessel flying its flag to transfer days present within the area for which it has been authorised to another fishing vessel flying its flag within that area, provided that the product of the number of days received by a fishing vessel and its engine power in kilowatts (kilowatt days) is equal to or less than the product of the number of days transferred by the donor fishing vessel and its engine power in kilowatts. The engine power in kilowatts of the fishing vessels shall be that recorded for each vessel in the Union fishing fleet register. 11.2. The total number of days present within the area transferred in accordance with point 11.1, multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of the donor fishing vessel, shall not be higher than the donor fishing vessel’s average annual days track record in the area, as verified by the fishing logbook, in the years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of that fishing vessel. 11.3. The transfer of days pursuant to point 11.1 shall be permitted between fishing vessels operating with any regulated gear and during the same management period. 11.4. Upon request by the Commission, Member States shall provide information on the transfers that have taken place. The Commission may adopt implementing acts establishing spreadsheet formats for the collection and transmission of that information. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 61(2) of this Regulation. 12. TRANSFER OF DAYS BETWEEN FISHING VESSELS FLYING THE FLAG OF DIFFERENT MEMBER STATES Member States may permit transfer of days present within the area for the same management period and within the area between any fishing vessels flying their flags provided that points 4.1, 4.3, 5, 6 and 10 apply. Where Member States decide to authorise such a transfer, they shall notify the Commission, before the transfer takes place, of the details of the transfer, including the number of days to be transferred, the fishing effort and, where applicable, the fishing quotas relating thereto. Chapter VI Reporting obligations 13. FISHING EFFORT REPORT Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 shall apply to fishing vessels falling within the scope of this Annex. The geographical area referred to in that Article shall be understood as the area defined in point 2 of this Annex. 14. COLLECTION OF RELEVANT DATA Member States shall collect on a quarterly basis information about total fishing effort deployed within the area by fishing vessels using towed gear and static gear, effort deployed within the area by fishing vessels using different types of gear, and the engine power of those fishing vessels in kilowatt days, on the basis of information used for the management of fishing days present within the area as set out in this Annex. 15. COMMUNICATION OF RELEVANT DATA Upon request by the Commission, Member States shall make available to the Commission a spreadsheet with the data specified in point 14 and in the format specified in Tables II and III by sending it to the appropriate electronic mailbox address, which shall be communicated to the Member States by the Commission. Member States shall, upon request by the Commission, send detailed information to the Commission on the effort allocated and consumed, covering all or parts of the 2024 and 2025 management periods and using the data format specified in Tables IV and V. Table II Reporting format for kW-day information by management period Member State Gear Management period Cumulative effort declaration (1) (2) (3) (4) Table III Data format for kW-day information by management period Name of field Maximum number of characters/digits Alignment ( 1 ) L(eft)/R(ight) Definition and comments (1) Member State 3 Member State (Alpha-3 ISO code) in which the vessel is registered (2) Gear 2 One of the following gear types: BT = beam trawls ≥ 80 mm GN = gillnet < 220 mm TN = trammel net or tangle net < 220 mm (3) Management period 4 One year in the period from the 2006 management period to the current management period (4) Cumulative effort declaration 7 R Cumulative amount of fishing effort expressed in kilowatt days deployed from 1 February until 31 January of the relevant management period ( 1 ) Information relevant for transmission of data by fixed-length formatting. Table IV Reporting format for vessel-related information Member State CFR External marking Length of management period Gear notified Days eligible using notified gear(s) Days spent with notified gear(s) Transfer of days No 1 No 2 No 3 … No 1 No 2 No 3 … No 1 No 2 No 3 … (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (5) (5) (5) (6) (6) (6) (6) (7) (7) (7) (7) (8) Table V Data format for vessel-related information Name of field Maximum number of characters/digits Alignment ( 2 ) L(eft)/R(ight) Definition and comments (1) Member State 3 Member State (Alpha-3 ISO code) in which fishing vessel is registered (2) CFR 12 Common fleet register number (CFR) Unique identification number of a fishing vessel Member State (Alpha-3 ISO code) followed by an identifying series (nine characters). Where a series has fewer than nine characters, additional zeros shall be inserted on the left-hand side (3) External marking 14 L Under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 ( 3 ) (4) Length of management period 2 L Length of the management period measured in months (5) Gear notified 2 L One of the following gear types: BT = beam trawls ≥ 80 mm GN = gillnet < 220 mm TN = trammel net or tangle net < 220 mm (6) Special condition applying to notified gear(s) 3 L Number of days for which the fishing vessel is eligible under Annex II for the notified gear and notified length of management period (7) Days spent with notified gear(s) 3 L Number of days during which the fishing vessel was actually present within the area and using a gear corresponding to the gear notified during the notified management period (8) Transfers of days 4 L For days transferred indicate ‘– number of days transferred’ and for days received indicate ‘+ number of days transferred’ ( 2 ) Information relevant for transmission of data by fixed-length formatting. ( 3 ) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 of 8 April 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy ( OJ L 112, 30.4.2011, p. 1 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2011/404/oj ). ( 1 ) Regulation (EU) 2021/1139 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1004 ( OJ L 247, 13.7.2021, p. 1 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/1139/oj ). ( 2 ) Regulation (EU) 2017/1004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 on the establishment of a Union framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector and support for scientific advice regarding the common fisheries policy and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 199/2008 ( OJ L 157, 20.6.2017, p. 1 , ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/1004/oj ).