(1)

Pursuant to Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, Member States are empowered to adopt fisheries conservation measures in their waters that are necessary to comply with their obligations under Article 6 of Council Directive 92/43/EEC (‘Habitats Directive’) (2), Article 4 of Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Birds Directive’) (3) and Article 13(4) of Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘Marine Strategy Framework Directive’) (4).

(2)

Article 6 of the Habitats Directive requires Member States to establish the necessary conservation measures for special areas of conservation which correspond to the ecological requirements of those natural habitat types and species protected in the sites. It also requires Member States to take appropriate steps to avoid the deterioration of natural habitats and species habitats, as well as significant disturbance of the species for which the areas have been designated.

(3)

Article 4 of the Birds Directive requires Member States to establish special conservation measures concerning the habitat of the species listed in its Annex I. It also requires Member States to take similar conservation measures for regularly occurring migratory species not listed in its Annex I.

(4)

In accordance with Article 13(4) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Member States are to adopt programmes of measures to achieve or maintain good environmental status, including spatial protection measures that contribute to coherent and representative networks of marine protected areas, and adequately cover the diversity of the constituent ecosystems, such as special areas of conservation pursuant to the Habitats Directive, special protection areas pursuant to the Birds Directive and marine protected areas as agreed by the Union or Member States concerned in the framework of international or regional agreements to which they are parties.

(5)

Pursuant to Article 11(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, where a Member State considers that measures need to be adopted to comply with the obligations under Union environmental legislation referred to in Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and other Member States have a direct management interest in the fishery to be affected by such measures, the Commission is empowered to adopt such measures by means of delegated acts upon a joint recommendation submitted by the Member States.

(6)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/118 (5) establishes conservation measures for the protection of the marine environment in certain marine protected areas in the North Sea.

(7)

On 19 October 2023, Germany and the Netherlands (initiating Member States), together with Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden, submitted to the Commission a joint recommendation regarding conservation measures in the German and Dutch areas of the Dogger Bank, in Natura 2000 sites ‘Doggerbank’ (DE1003301) and ‘Doggersbank’ (NL2008001).

(8)

The joint recommendation proposes conservation measures to protect sandbanks (habitat type H1110) from the impact of mobile bottom contacting gear by prohibiting mobile bottom trawls and seines in specific areas within these Natura 2000 sites.

(9)

The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) assessed the joint recommendation at its plenary session of 11-15 March 2024 (6).

(10)

The STECF concluded that the proposed conservation measures in the Dogger Bank may contribute towards ensuring that the habitats and species addressed in the joint recommendation are maintained and restored at favourable conservation status, and represent a positive step forward towards: (i) minimising the negative impacts of fishing activities on certain habitats and their biological communities; and (ii) ensuring that fisheries activities avoid the degradation of the marine environment as stipulated in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.

(11)

The joint recommendation also extends the prohibition to seiners in both the management areas of Germany and the Netherlands. The STECF stressed that the inclusion of all the gear groups in the management measures is necessary to minimise the negative impacts of fishing and avoid the fishery-based degradation of the marine environment.

(12)

The joint recommendation also proposes control and enforcement measures. The STECF noted that the joint recommendation had taken into account previous STECF recommendations and concluded that these control and enforcement measures appear adequate and sufficient to ensure a proper enforcement of the measures proposed for the management zones. Some of the control measures proposed, however, are already a legal obligation and are therefore not included in this delegated regulation.

(13)

The conservation status of the site is still assessed as unfavourable and, according to the data submitted by the Member States, fishing activities have distorted the species composition towards smaller and short-lived species.

(14)

The Commission therefore considers that the measures proposed in the joint recommendation will contribute to minimising the negative impacts of fishing activities in the EU waters of the Dogger Bank Natura 2000 sites.

(15)

Article 3(3)(d) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/118 establishes a derogation from the fishing prohibition in the fishing restricted areas of Stora Middelgrund och Röde bank (SE0510186), Fladen (SE0510127), Lilla Middelgrund (SE0510126) and Morups bank (SE0510187) in the Kattegat area for gillnets and trammel nets, provided that fishing vessels take part in a national monitoring and assessing programme conducted by or on behalf of the national authorities to evaluate the bycatch of harbour porpoise and seabirds by use of remote electronic monitoring, including the use of on-board closed-circuit television cameras and position data. Article 3(3)(d) also required Sweden to review the data on incidental catches of harbour porpoise and seabirds annually for a final assessment by 31 December 2024.

(16)

That derogation was established following its assessment by the STECF in its plenary of 22-26 March 2021 (7). Although the STECF questioned the suitability of the derogation, it noted the possibility to review it after three years of application. That derogation was part of a wider joint recommendation submitted in 2021 that contained several measures on which the STECF had concluded that overall, they represented a positive step forward towards minimising the negative impacts of fishing activities on the habitats concerned.

(17)

On 11 July 2024, the North Sea Member States, with Sweden as initiating Member State, submitted to the Commission a joint recommendation proposing the removal of this derogation as no fisheries have taken place under the monitoring programme, and because there is new data demonstrating the poor status of the Belt Sea population.

(18)

The Commission considers that, for the reasons set out in recital (17) above, it is pertinent to remove the derogation for gillnets and trammel nets.

(19)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/118 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(20)

This Delegated Regulation is without prejudice to the need for additional conservation measures necessary to comply with the relevant provisions of the Birds, Habitats and Marine Strategy Framework Directives and the Commission’s position regarding compliance by the interested Member States with their obligations under the relevant Union environmental legislation,

(1)

Article 3 is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 4 is amended as follows:

(3)

Article 5, paragraph 2, point c is replaced by the following:

(4)

Article 6 is replaced by the following:

(5)

Annex I is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.