Council Regulation (EC) No 43/2009Show full title

CHAPTER I SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS

Article 1 Subject matter

This Regulation fixes fishing opportunities for the year 2009, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, and the associated conditions under which such fishing opportunities may be used.

In addition, it fixes certain effort limits and associated conditions for January 2010, and for certain Antarctic stocks it fixes the fishing opportunities and specific conditions for the periods set out in Annex IE.

Article 2 Scope

1. If not otherwise provided for, this Regulation shall apply to:

(a) Community fishing vessels (‘Community vessels’); and

(b) Fishing vessels flying the flag of, and registered in, third countries (‘third-country fishing vessels’) in Community waters (‘EC waters’).

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the provisions of this Regulation, except point 4.2 of Annex III and footnote 1 to Annex XI, shall not apply to fishing operations conducted solely for the purpose of scientific investigations which are carried out with the permission and under the authority of the Member State whose flag the vessel is flying and of which the Commission and the Member States in whose waters the research is carried out have been informed in advance. Member States conducting fishing operations for the purpose of scientific investigations shall inform the Commission, the Member States in whose waters the research is carried out, ICES and STECF of all catches from such fishing operations.

Article 3 Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, in addition to the definitions laid down in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)

‘total allowable catches’ (TAC) means the quantity that can be taken and landed from each stock each year;

(b)

‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Community, Member States or third countries;

(c)

‘international waters’ means waters falling outside the sovereignty or jurisdiction of any State.

Article 4 Fishing zones

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following zone definitions shall apply:

(a)

ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) zones are as defined in Regulation (EEC) No 3880/91;

(b)

‘Skagerrak’ means the area bounded on the west by a line drawn from the Hanstholm lighthouse to the Lindesnes lighthouse and on the south by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from this point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast;

(c)

‘Kattegat’ means the area bounded on the north by a line drawn from the Skagen lighthouse to the Tistlarna lighthouse and from this point to the nearest point on the Swedish coast and on the south by a line drawn from Hasenøre to Gnibens Spids, from Korshage to Spodsbjerg and from Gilbjerg Hoved to Kullen;

(d)

‘Gulf of Cádiz’ means the area of ICES zone IXa east of longitude 7^o23'48"W;

(e)

the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) zone is as defined in Council Decision 98/416/EC of 16 June 1998 on the accession of the European Community to the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean(1);

(f)

CECAF (Eastern Central Atlantic or FAO major fishing zone 34) zones are as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 2597/95 of 23 October 1995 on the submission of nominal catch statistics by Member States fishing in certain areas other than those of the North Atlantic(2);

(g)

‘NEAFC Convention Area’ means the waters as set out in Article 1 of the Convention attached to Council Decision 81/608/EEC of 13 July 1981 concerning the conclusion of the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries(3);

(h)

‘NEAFC Regulatory Area’ means the waters of the NEAFC Convention Area which lie beyond the waters under the jurisdiction of NEAFC Contracting Parties;

(i)

NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) zones are as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2018/93 of 30 June 1993 on the submission of catch and activity statistics by Member States fishing in the Northwest Atlantic(4);

(j)

‘NAFO Regulatory Area’ means the part of the area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) Convention not falling under the sovereignty or within the jurisdiction of coastal States;

(k)

SEAFO (South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation) zones are as defined in Council Decision 2002/738/EC of 22 July 2002 on the conclusion by the European Community of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Fishery Resources in the South-East Atlantic Ocean(5);

(l)

the ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) zone is as defined in Council Decision 86/238/EECof 9 June 1986 on the accession of the Community to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, as amended by the Protocol annexed to the Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the States Parties to the Convention signed in Paris on 10 July 1984(6);

(m)

CCAMLR (Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) zones are as defined in Regulation (EC) No 601/2004;

(n)

the IATTC (Inter American Tropical Tuna Convention) zone is as defined in Council Decision 2006/539/EC of 22 May 2006 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the Convention for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission established by the 1949 Convention between the United States of America and the Republic of Costa Rica(7);

(o)

the IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) zone is as defined in Council Decision 95/399/EC of 18 September 1995 on the accession of the Community to the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission(8);

(p)

‘SPFO (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation) area’ means the high seas area south of the Equator, north of the CCAMLR Convention area, east of the SIOFA Convention Area as defined in the Council Decision 2006/496/EC of 6 July 2006 on the signing, on behalf of the European Community, of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement(9), and west of the areas of fisheries jurisdictions of South American States;

(q)

the WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention) zone is as defined in Council Decision 2005/75/EC of 26 April 2004 on the accession of the Community to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean(10).

(r)

‘High Seas of the Bering Sea’ means the area of the high seas of the Bering Sea beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the coastal States of the Bering Sea is measured.

(1)

OJ L 190, 4.7.1998, p. 34.

(2)

OJ L 270, 13.11.1995, p. 1.

(3)

OJ L 227, 12.8.1981, p. 21.

(4)

OJ L 186, 28.7.1993, p. 1.

(5)

OJ L 234, 31.8.2002, p. 39.

(6)

OJ L 162, 18.6.1986, p. 33.

(7)

OJ L 224, 16.8.2006, p. 22.

(8)

OJ L 236, 5.10.1995, p. 24.

(9)

OJ L 196, 18.7.2006, p. 14.

(10)

OJ L 32, 4.2.2005, p. 1.