ANNEX IIB FISHING EFFORT FOR 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 carrying on board or deploying beam trawls of mesh size equal to or greater than 80 mm and static nets including gillnets, trammel-nets and tangle-nets with mesh size equal to or less than 220 mm in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 509/2007, and present in ICES division 7e.

1.2. Vessels fishing with static nets with mesh size equal to or larger than 120 mm and with track records of less than 300 kg live weight of sole per year during the three previous years, according to their fishing records, shall be exempt from the application of this Annex subject to the following conditions:

(a)

such vessels caught less than 300 kg live weight of sole during the 2017 management period;

(b)

such vessels do not tranship any fish at sea to another vessel;

(c)

by 31 July 2019 and 31 January 2020 each Member State concerned makes a report to the Commission on those vessels' catch records for sole in the three previous years as well as on catches of sole in 2019.

Where any of those conditions is not met, the 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 shall 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)

‘area’ means ICES division 7e;

(d)

‘current management period’ means the period from 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019.

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 shall be present within the area for no more than the number of days set out in Chapter III of this Annex.