ANNEX IID FISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR VESSELS FISHING FOR SANDEEL IN ICES ZONES IIa, IIIa AND IV

1. The conditions laid down in this Annex shall apply to EU vessels fishing in EU waters of ICES zones IIa, IIIa and IV with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16 mm.

2. The conditions laid down in this Annex shall apply to third-country vessels authorised to fish for sandeel in EU waters of ICES zone IV unless otherwise specified, or as a consequence of consultations between the Union and Norway as set out in the Agreed Record of conclusions between the European Union and Norway.

3. For the purposes of this Annex, a day present within the area shall be:

(a)

the 24-hour period between 00:00 hours of a calendar day and 24:00 hours of the same calendar day or any part of such a period; or

(b)

any continuous period of 24 hours as recorded in the fishing logbook between the date and time of departure and the date and time of arrival or any part of any such time period.

4. Each Member State concerned shall maintain a data base containing for EU waters of ICES zones IIa, IIIa and IV and for each vessel flying its flag or registered within the Union which have been fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16 mm, the following information:

(a)

the name and internal registration number of the vessel;

(b)

the installed engine power of the vessel in kilowatts measured in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86;

(c)

the number of days present within the area when fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gear with a mesh size of less than 16 mm;

(d)

the kilowatt-days as the product of the number of days present within the area and the installed engine power in kilowatts.

5. Exploratory fishery relating to sandeel abundance shall start no earlier than 1 April 2010 and end no later than 6 May 2010.

The total ceiling of fishing effort allowed in the exploratory fishery relating to sandeel abundance in 2010 shall be determined on the basis of the total fishing effort deployed by EU vessels in 2007 established in accordance with point 4 and shall be divided among Member States in accordance with the quota allocations for this TAC.

6. The TAC and quotas for sandeel in EU waters of ICES zones IIa, IIIa and IV as laid down in Annex I shall be revised by the Commission as early as possible based on advice from ICES and the STECF on the size of the 2009 year class of North Sea sandeel, taking into account the following principles as well as other relevant elements contained in the scientific advice:

The TAC for EU waters of ICES zones IIa and IV shall be established according to the following function:

TAC ₂₀₁₀ = -333+R1,2010*3,692

where R1,2010 is the stock size of age 1 sandeel in billions on 1 January 2010 and the TAC is expressed in 1 000 tonnes.

7. If the TAC calculated in point 6 exceeds 400 000 tonnes, the TAC shall be set at 400 000 tonnes.

8. Commercial fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16 mm shall be prohibited from 1 August 2010 until 31 December 2010.