Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2066 of 25 August 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1022 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding details of implementation of the landing obligation for certain demersal stocks in the western Mediterranean Sea for the period 2022-2024
Article 1
Implementation of the landing obligation
The landing obligation provided for in Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 shall apply in Union waters of the Western Mediterranean Sea to demersal fisheries in accordance with this Regulation.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
- (a) ‘GFCM Geographical Sub-Areas’ (‘GSAs’) means General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (‘GFCM’) Geographical Sub-Areas as defined in the Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council ([^E0001]);
- (b) ‘Western Mediterranean Sea’ means GFCM Geographical Sub-Areas 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.1, 11.2 and 12.
Article 3
Survivability exemptions
The exemption from the landing obligation pursuant to Article 15(4), point (b) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 for species for which scientific evidence demonstrates high survival rates, in the western Mediterranean Sea, shall apply to:
- a) scallop (Pecten jacobeus) caught with mechanised dredges (HMD) until 31 December 2023;
- b) Carpet clams (Venerupis spp.) caught with mechanised dredges (HMD) until 31 December 2023;
- c) Venus shells (Venus spp.) caught with mechanised dredges (HMD) until 31 December 2024;
- d) Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) caught with all bottom trawls (OTB, OTT, PTB, TBN, TBS, TB, OT, PT, TX) during the months of January to June and September to December, each year until 31 December 2024;
- e) Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) caught with pots and traps (FPO, FIX) until 31 December 2024;
- f) red sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo) caught with hooks and lines (LHP, LHM, LLS, LLD, LL, LTL, LX) until 31 December 2023;
- g) lobster (Homarus gammarus) caught with nets (GNS, GN, GND, GNC, GTN, GTR, GEN) and with pots and traps (FPO, FIX) until 31 December 2023;
- h) crawfish (Palinuridae) caught with nets (GNS, GN, GND, GNC, GTN, GTR, GEN) and with pots and traps (FPO, FIX) until 31 December 2023.
Scallop (Pecten jacobeus), carpet clams (Venerupis spp.), Venus shells (Venus spp.), Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus), red sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo), lobster (Homarus gammarus) and crawfish (Palinuridae) caught in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 1 shall be released immediately in the area where they have been caught.
By 1 May 2022 and 2023, the Member States having a direct management interest in the fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea shall submit to the Commission additional discard data and any other relevant scientific evidence supporting the exemption laid down in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 1. The STECF shall assess the data and information submitted by 31 July at the latest.
Article 4
De minimis exemptions
By way of derogation from Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the following quantities of species may be discarded pursuant to Article 15(4), point (c) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013:
- (a) for hake (Merluccius merluccius) and mullets (Mullus spp.), up to a maximum of 5 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual catches of those species caught by vessels using bottom trawls;
- (b) for hake (Merluccius merluccius) and mullets (Mullus spp.), up to a maximum of 1 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual catches of those species caught by vessels using gillnets and trammel nets;
- (c) for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), annular seabream (Diplodus annularis), sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo), white seabream (Diplodus sargus), two-banded seabream (Diplodus vulgaris), groupers (Epinephelus spp.), striped seabream (Lithognathus mormyrus), Spanish seabream (Pagellus acarne), red seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), common seabream (Pagrus pagrus), wreckfish (Polyprion americanus), common sole (Solea solea), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) and deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris), up to a maximum of 5 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual catches of those species caught by vessels using bottom trawls;
- (d) for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), annular seabream (Diplodus annularis), sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo), white seabream (Diplodus sargus), two-banded seabream (Diplodus vulgaris), groupers (Epinephelus spp.), striped seabream (Lithognathus mormyrus), Spanish seabream (Pagellus acarne), red seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), common seabream (Pagrus pagrus), wreckfish (Polyprion americanus), common sole (Solea solea) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), up to a maximum of 3 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual catches of those species caught by vessels using gillnets and trammel nets;
- (e) for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), annular seabream (Diplodus annularis), sharpsnout seabream (Diplodus puntazzo), white seabream (Diplodus sargus), two-banded seabream (Diplodus vulgaris), groupers (Epinephelus spp.), striped seabream (Lithognathus mormyrus), Spanish seabream (Pagellus acarne), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), common seabream (Pagrus pagrus), wreckfish (Polyprion americanus), common sole (Solea solea) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), up to a maximum of 1 % for 2022 and 2023 of the total annual catches of those species caught by vessels using hooks and lines.
Article 5
Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2024.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
[^E0001]: Regulation (EU) No 1343/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 concerning management measures for the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea (OJ L 347, 30.12.2011, p. 44).
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