{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2016-2336/article-9",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2016-2336/article-9.json",
  "legislation": "eur/2016/2336",
  "legislation_title": "Regulation (EU) 2016/2336 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 establishing specific conditions for fishing for deep-sea stocks in the north-east Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the north-east Atlantic and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-2016-2336",
  "path": "article/9",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "9",
  "heading": "Specific requirements for the protection of VMEs",
  "text": "1. This Article shall apply to fishing operations with bottom gears below a depth of 400 metres.\n2. Where, in the course of fishing operations, the quantity of VME indicators, as defined in Annex III, that has been caught in that fishing operation exceeds the thresholds defined in Annex IV, an encounter with VMEs shall be considered to have taken place. The fishing vessel shall immediately cease fishing in the area concerned. It shall resume operations only when reaching an alternative area at least five nautical miles from the area in which the encounter occurred.\n3. The fishing vessel shall immediately report each encounter with VMEs to the competent ... authorities of a fisheries administration.\n4. A fisheries administration must use the best available scientific and technical information, including biogeographical information and the information referred to in paragraph 3, to identify where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur. ....\n...\n5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n6. On the basis of—\n(a) the best scientific and technical information available;\n(b) an assessment of areas where VMEs are known to occur or likely to occur, carried out by a competent scientific advisory body; and\n(c) any assessments and identifications carried out by a fisheries administration,\na fisheries administration may, by regulations, establish a list of areas where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur.\n6A. A fisheries administration must review any regulations made under paragraph 6 annually on the basis of advice received from a competent scientific advisory body and, where appropriate, amend the list by regulations. The fisheries administration may remove an area from the list provided that it determines, on the basis of an impact assessment and after consulting the competent scientific advisory body, that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that VMEs are not present, or that appropriate conservation and management measures have been adopted which ensure that significant adverse impacts on VMEs in that area are prevented.\n7. A fisheries administration may review, on the basis of the best available scientific information, the VME indicators and may, by regulations, amend the list included in Annex 3.\n8. New impact assessments shall be required if there are significant changes to the techniques used for carrying out fisheries with bottom gear, or where there is new scientific information indicating the presence of VMEs in a given area.\n9. Fishing with bottom gears shall be prohibited in all areas listed in accordance with paragraph 6.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Word in Art. 9(3) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(a)(i); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in Art. 9(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(a)(ii); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in Art. 9(4) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(b)(i); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in Art. 9(4) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(b)(ii); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in Art. 9(4) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(b)(iii); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Art. 9(5) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Common Fisheries Policy (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/739), regs. 1, 27(7)(c); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Art. 9(6)(6A)(7) substituted for Art. 9(6)(7) (31.12.2020) by The Common Fisheries Policy and Aquaculture (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/753), regs. 1, 37(4); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/2336/article/9",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-01T14:45:17.022271+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}