Article 5U.K.Approval and implementation of Eel Management Plans
1.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 Eel Management Plans shall be approved by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.
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.