This Regulation fixes the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea for 2013.
This Regulation shall apply to Union vessels operating in the Baltic Sea.
For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:
‘International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) zones’ means the geographical areas specified in Annex I to Council Regulation (EC) No 2187/2005 of 21 December 2005 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Sound(1);
‘Baltic Sea’ means ICES Subdivisions 22-32;
‘Union vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union;
‘total allowable catch’ (TAC) means the quantity that can be taken from each stock each year;
‘quota’ means a proportion of the TAC allocated to the Union, a Member State or a third country;
‘day absent from port’ means any continuous period of 24 hours or part thereof during which a vessel is absent from port.
The TACs, the quotas and the conditions functionally linked thereto, where appropriate, are set out in Annex I.
1.The allocation of fishing opportunities among Member States as set out in this Regulation shall be without prejudice to:
(a)exchanges made pursuant to Article 20(5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002;
(b)reallocations made pursuant to Article 37 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;
(c)additional landings allowed under Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96;
(d)quantities withheld in accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96;
(e)deductions made pursuant to Articles 37, 105, 106 and 107 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.
2.Except where otherwise specified in Annex I to this Regulation, Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 shall apply to stocks subject to a precautionary TAC, and Article 3(2) and (3) and Article 4 of that Regulation shall apply to stocks subject to an analytical TAC.
Fish from stocks for which catch limits are established shall be retained on board or landed only if the catches have been taken by vessels of a Member State having a quota and that quota is not exhausted.
1.Fishing effort limits are set out in Annex II.
2.The limits referred to in paragraph 1 shall also apply to ICES Subdivisions 27 and 28.2, unless the Commission has taken a decision in accordance with Article 29(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 to exclude those Subdivisions from the restrictions provided for in Article 8(1)(b), Article 8(3), (4) and (5), and Article 13 of that Regulation.
3.The limits referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply to ICES Subdivision 28.1, unless the Commission has taken a decision in accordance with Article 29(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 that the restrictions provided for in Article 8(1)(b), and Article 8(3), (4) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1098/2007 shall apply to that Subdivision.
When, pursuant to Articles 33 and 34 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, Member States send the Commission data relating to landings of quantities of stocks caught, they shall use the stock codes set out in Annex I to this Regulation.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 January 2013.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 20 November 2012.
For the Council
The President
A. D. Mavroyiannis