# 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, Introduction: Introductory text

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

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
THE 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 1966/2006, 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 1262/2012,
Council Regulation (EU) No 1180/2013,
Council Regulation (EU) No 24/2014, and
Council Regulation (EU) No 43/2014.
(2)
Fishing quotas for the year 2015 were established by:
Council Regulation (EU) No 1221/2014,
Council Regulation (EU) No 1367/2014,
Council Regulation (EU) 2015/104, and
Council Regulation (EU) 2015/106.
(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) 2015/1801 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 1380/2013 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-72/07 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 371 766 kilograms and 178 850 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 405 000 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 145 616 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 2015/1170, a quantity of 3 369 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 9 287 kilograms subtracted from the outstanding deduction of 19 000 kilograms owed for that stock should be reduced to 5 918 kilograms and a further deduction of 3 369 kilograms should be immediately applicable.
(12)
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1801 should therefore be amended accordingly,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2015/2404/introduction (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2015-2404/introduction
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.