Division A Extract from letter (Ares) 5493915 of 10 November 2017 sent by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Commission

Dear Madam,

Further to my letter of 3 November regarding the follow-up to the conclusions of the recent Joint Committee meeting (ref. Ares 5362568 of 3 November 2017), I am pleased to confirm that, pursuant to Article 5 of the Protocol, the Council of the European Union agreed on a 15 % reduction to the quota allocated in 2018 to category 6 vessels in order to ensure the sustainable exploitation of the stocks in question.

[…]

Furthermore, as stated in the above-mentioned letter, I would ask you to approve by return letter the changes to the following technical conditions in category 6, their purpose being to optimise the use of fishing opportunities in that category:

• change to the catch composition by increasing the catch rate for the sardine-sardinella group of species to 40 % of the allocated quota, with the increase being offset by an equivalent decrease in catch rates for the horse mackerel/mackerel/anchovies group of species and the by-catch percentage remaining unchanged;

• increase in the monthly catch ceiling, which is raised to 12 000 tonnes for the period 1 April to 14 July 2018, bearing in mind that the European side insists that this monthly ceiling be maintained for the period running from 1 January to 14 July 2018.

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