Eurlexa

Article 1Scope1.This Regulation shall apply:(a)to the conservation, management and exploitation of living aquatic resources where such activities are pursued(i)in the maritime waters of the Mediterranean Sea to the east of the line 5 o36' W (hereinafter Mediterranean Sea) falling under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of Member States;(ii)by Union fishing vessels in the Mediterranean Sea outside the waters referred to in (i);(iii)by nationals of Member States, without prejudice to the primary responsibility of the flag State, in the Mediterranean Sea, outside the waters referred to in (i); and(b)to marketing of fishery products caught in the Mediterranean Sea.2.This Regulation 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 or Member States concerned.

Article 2DefinitionsFor the purpose of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:1."towed gears" means any fishing gear, with the exclusion of troll lines, towed either by the engine power of the fishing vessel or hauled by means of winches with the fishing vessel either anchored or slowly under way, including in particular towed nets and dredges;(a)"towed nets" means trawl nets, boat seines and shore seines;(i)"trawl nets" means nets which are actively towed by the main boat engine and consisting of a cone- or pyramid-shaped body (as trawl body) closed at the back by a cod-end and which can extend at the opening by the wings or can be mounted on a rigid frame. Horizontal opening is either obtained by otter boards or provided by a beam or frame of variable shape and size. Such nets can be towed either on the bottom (bottom trawl net) or in midwater (pelagic trawl net);(ii)"boat seines" means surrounding nets and towed seines which are operated and hauled by means of ropes and winches from a boat under way or at anchor and not towed by means of the main boat engine, consist of two lateral wings and a central bunt either in the form of a spoon or with a bag in the rearmost part and may operate from the surface to the bottom depending on the target species;(iii)"shore seines" means surrounding nets and towed seines set from a boat and operated from the shore;(b)"dredges" means gears which are either actively towed by the main boat engine (boat dredge) or hauled by a motorised winch from an anchored vessel (mechanised dredge) to catch bivalves, gastropods or sponges and which consist of a net bag or metal basket mounted on a rigid frame or rod of variable size and shape whose lower part may carry a scraper blade that can be either rounded, sharp or toothed, and may or may not be equipped with skids and diving boards. Some dredges are equipped with hydraulic equipment (hydraulic dredges). Dredges pulled by hand or by manual winch in shallow waters with or without a boat to catch bivalves, gastropods or sponges (hand dredges) shall not be considered towed gears for the purpose of this Regulation;2."fishing protected area" means a geographically-defined sea area in which all or certain fishing activities are temporarily or permanently banned or restricted in order to improve the exploitation and conservation of living aquatic resources or the protection of marine ecosystems;3."bottom-set net" means a trammel net, a bottom-set gillnet or a combined bottom-set net;(a)"trammel net" means any net made up of two or more pieces of net hung jointly in parallel on a single headline, fixed, or capable of being fixed by any means to the bottom of the sea;(b)"bottom-set gillnet" means any net made up of a single piece of net held vertically in the water by floats and weights fixed or capable of being fixed by any means to the bottom of the sea and maintain the gear in place either close to the bottom or floating in the water column;(c)"combined bottom-set net" means any bottom-set gillnet combined with a trammel net which constitutes the lower part;4."surrounding nets" means nets which catch fish by surrounding them both from the sides and from below. They may or may not be equipped with a purse line.(a)"purse seines" means any surrounding net the bottom of which is drawn together by means of a purse line at the bottom of the net, which passes through a series of rings along the ground rope, enabling the net to be pursed and closed. Purse seines may be used to catch small pelagic species, large pelagic species or demersal species;5."traps" means fishing gear which is fixed to or deployed on the bottom and which acts as a trap to catch marine species. They are constructed in the form of a basket, pot, barrel or cage, and in the majority of cases they comprise a rigid or semi-rigid frame made of various material (wood, wicker, metal rods, wire netting, etc.) that may or may not be covered with netting. They have one or more funnels or mouths with smooth ends that allow species to enter the internal chamber. They may be used separately or in groups. When used in groups a main line carries numerous traps on branch lines of variable length and spacing depending on the target species;6."longlines" means a fishing gear which comprises a main line carrying numerous hooks on branch lines (snoods) of variable length and spacing depending on the target species. It may be deployed either vertically or horizontally to the sea surface; it may be set either at or near the bottom (bottom-set longline) or drifting in midwater or near the surface (surface longline);7."hooks" means a bent, sharpened piece of steel wire usually with barb. The point of a hook may be either straight or even reversed and curved; the shank can be of varying length and form and its cross section can be round (regular) or flattened (forged). The total length of a hook shall be measured as the maximum overall length of the shank from the tip of the hook which serves for fastening the line and is usually shaped as an eye, to the apex of the bend. The width of a hook shall be measured as the greatest horizontal distance from the external part of the shank to the external part of the barb;8."leisure fisheries" means fishing activities exploiting living aquatic resources for recreation or sport;9."fishing aggregating devices (FADs)" means any equipment floating on the sea surface and aggregating underneath either juveniles or adult specimens of highly migratory species;10."St Andrew's cross" is a grab which employs a scissor-like action to harvest either the bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis or the red coral from the sea-bed;11."seagrass bed" means an area where the seabed is characterised by the dominant presence of phanerogams, or where such vegetation has existed and is in need of restoration action. Seagrass is a collective terms for the species Posidonia oceanica, Cymodocea nodosa, Zoostera marina and Zoostera noltii;12."coralligenous habitat" means an area where the seabed is characterised by the dominant presence of a specific biological community named "coralligenous", or where such community has existed and is in need of restoration action. Coralligenous is a collective term for a very complex biogenic structure given by the continuous overlapping over a pre-existent rocky or hard substratum of calcareous strata mainly deriving from the building activity of encrusting calcareous coralline red algae and animal organisms such as Porifera, ascidians, cnidarians (horny corals, seafans, etc.), bryozoans, serpulids and annelids, together with other limestone-fixer organisms;13."mäerl bed" means an area where the seabed is characterised by the dominant presence of a specific biological community named "mäerl", or where such a community has existed and is in need of restoration action. Mäerl is a collective term for a biogenic structure due to several species of coralline red algae (Corallinaceae), which have hard calcium skeletons and grow as unattached free-living branched, twig-like or nodular coralline algae on the seabed, forming accumulations within the ripples of mudflats or sandflats seabeds. Mäerl beds are usually composed of one or a variable combination of red algae, in particular Lithothamnion coralloides and Phymatolithon calcareum;14."direct restocking" means the activity of releasing live wild animals of selected species in waters where they occur naturally, in order to use the natural production of the aquatic environment to increase the number of individuals available for fisheries and/or to increase the natural recruitment;15."transplantation" means the process by which a species is intentionally transported and released by humans within areas of established populations and continuing genetic flow where it occurs;16."non-indigenous species" means a species whose historically known natural range occurs outside the area of interest;17."introduction" means the process by which a non-indigenous species is intentionally moved and released by humans into any area which is outside of its historically known natural range;18."unintended catches" means incidental catches of marine organisms which, under Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council Decision 2004/585/EC (OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 22)., must be landed because they are below the minimum conservation reference size.

Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 of 21 December 2006 concerning management measures for the sustainable exploitation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean Sea, amending Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1626/94