Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2404 of 16 December 2015 operating deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2015 on account of overfishing of other stocks in the previous years and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2404of 16 December 2015operating deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2015 on account of overfishing of other stocks in the previous years and amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy, amending Regulations (EC) No 847/96, (EC) No 2371/2002, (EC) No 811/2004, (EC) No 768/2005, (EC) No 2115/2005, (EC) No 2166/2005, (EC) No 388/2006, (EC) No 509/2007, (EC) No 676/2007, (EC) No 1098/2007, (EC) No 1300/2008, (EC) No 1342/2008 and repealing Regulations (EEC) No 2847/93, (EC) No 1627/94 and (EC) No 1966/2006OJ L 343, 22.12.2009, p. 1., and in particular Article 105(1), (2), (3) and (5) thereof,Whereas:(1)Fishing quotas for the year 2014 were established by:Council Regulation (EU) No 1262/2012Council Regulation (EU) No 1262/2012 of 20 December 2012 fixing for 2013 and 2014 the fishing opportunities for EU vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks (OJ L 356, 22.12.2012, p. 22).,Council Regulation (EU) No 1180/2013Council Regulation (EU) No 1180/2013 of 19 November 2013 fixing for 2014 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea (OJ L 313, 22.11.2013, p. 4).,Council Regulation (EU) No 24/2014Council Regulation (EU) No 24/2014 of 10 January 2014 fixing for 2014 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks in the Black Sea (OJ L 9, 14.1.2014, p. 4)., andCouncil Regulation (EU) No 43/2014Council Regulation (EU) No 43/2014 of 20 January 2014 fixing for 2014 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, to Union vessels, in certain non-Union waters (OJ L 24, 28.1.2014, p. 1)..(2)Fishing quotas for the year 2015 were established by:Council Regulation (EU) No 1221/2014Council Regulation (EU) No 1221/2014 of 10 November 2014 fixing for 2015 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea and amending Regulations (EU) No 43/2014 and (EU) No 1180/2013 (OJ L 330, 15.11.2014, p. 16).,Council Regulation (EU) No 1367/2014Council Regulation (EU) No 1367/2014 of 15 December 2014 fixing for 2015 and 2016 the fishing opportunities for Union fishing vessels for certain deep-sea fish stocks (OJ L 366, 20.12.2014, p. 1).,Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104 of 19 January 2015 fixing for 2015 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, applicable in Union waters and, for Union vessels, in certain non-Union waters, amending Regulation (EU) No 43/2014 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 779/2014 (OJ L 22, 28.1.2015, p. 1)., andCouncil Regulation (EU) 2015/106Council Regulation (EU) 2015/106 of 19 January 2015 fixing for 2015 the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks in the Black Sea (OJ L 19, 24.1.2015, p. 8)..(3)According to Article 105(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009, when the Commission has established that a Member State has exceeded the fishing quotas which have been allocated to it, the Commission is to operate deductions from future fishing quotas of that Member State.(4)Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801 of 7 October 2015 operating deductions from fishing quotas available for certain stocks in 2015 on account of overfishing in the previous years (OJ L 263, 8.10.2015, p. 19). has established deductions from fishing quotas for certain stocks in 2015 on account of overfishing in the previous years.(5)However, for certain Member States no deductions could be operated by Regulation (EU) 2015/1801 from quotas allocated for the overfished stocks because such quotas were not available for those Member States in the year 2015.(6)In certain cases, exchanges of fishing opportunities concluded in accordance with Article 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013Regulation (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). enabled partial deductions. The remaining quantities should be operated on other stocks pursuant to Article 105(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.(7)Article 105(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 provides that, if it is not possible to operate deductions on the overfished stock in the year following the overfishing because the Member State concerned has no available quota, deductions should be operated on other stocks in the same geographical area or with the same commercial value. According to Commission Communication No 2012/C-72/07OJ C 72, 10.3.2012, p. 27. such deductions should be preferably operated from quotas allocated for stocks fished by the same fleet as the fleet that overfished the quota, taking into account the need to avoid discards in mixed fisheries.(8)The Member States concerned have been consulted with regard to the proposed deductions from quotas allocated for stocks other than those which have been overfished.(9)At the request of Portugal, redfish in Norwegian waters of I and II (RED/1N2AB.) should be used as alternative stock to payback the overfishing of respectively 371766 kilograms and 178850 kilograms for haddock and saithe in Norwegian waters of I and II (HAD/1N2AB. and POK/1N2AB.) in the previous years. Considering that the Portuguese 2015 quota of redfish in Norwegian waters of I and II amounts to 405000 kilograms and is not sufficient to cover the deductions due for both overfished stocks, this quota should be used to the full extent of its available quantity and a remaining quantity of 145616 kilograms should be deducted in the following year(s) on account of saithe in the same area (POK/1N2AB.) until the full overfished amount is paid back.(10)Moreover, certain deductions provided for by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801 appear to be insufficient. The required deductions appear to be larger than the adapted quota available in the year 2015 and, as a consequence, cannot be entirely operated on that quota. According to Commission Communication No 2012/C-72/07, the remaining amounts should be deducted from the adapted quotas available in subsequent years.(11)Following Commission Implementing Regulation (EC) No 2015/1170Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1170 of 16 July 2015 adding to the 2015 fishing quotas certain quantities withheld in the year 2014 pursuant to Article 4(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 (OJ L 189, 17.7.2015, p. 2)., a quantity of 3369 kilograms corresponding to 10 % of the Spanish 2014 adapted quota for Norway lobster in areas IX and X and Union waters of CECAF 34.1.1 (NEP/9/3411) is no longer available to Spain following a quota transfer. Consequently, the available quantity of 9287 kilograms subtracted from the outstanding deduction of 19000 kilograms owed for that stock should be reduced to 5918 kilograms and a further deduction of 3369 kilograms should be immediately applicable.(12)Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801 should therefore be amended accordingly,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: