(1)

Fishing quotas for the year 2023 have been established by Council Regulations (EU) 2022/2090 (2), (EU) 2023/194 (3) and (EU) 2023/195 (4).

(2)

Fishing quotas for the year 2024 have been established by Council Regulations (EU) 2023/2638 (5), (EU) 2024/257 (6) and (EU) 2024/259 (7).

(3)

Fishing quotas for the year 2025 have been established by Council Regulations (EU) 2024/257, (EU) 2024/2903 (8), (EU) 2025/202 (9) and (EU) 2025/219 (10).

(4)

Pursuant 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.

(5)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 (11) established deductions from fishing quotas available for certain fish stocks in 2025 on account of overfishing in the previous years.

(6)

For certain Member States, namely Poland and Spain, certain deductions could not be operated by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 from fishing quotas allocated for the overfished stocks because quotas for these stocks were not available for those Member States in the year 2025.

(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 for that fish stock, deductions may be operated on other stocks in the same geographical area or with the same commercial value, following consultations with the Member State concerned.

(8)

According to point 4 of the Communication from the Commission 2022/C 369/03 on guidelines for the deduction of quotas under Article 105(1), (2) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 (12) (‘the Guidelines’), such deductions should be preferably operated from quotas allocated for stocks fished by the same fleet as the fleet that overfished the quota.

(9)

The Member States concerned have been consulted as regards certain deductions from fishing quotas allocated for stocks other than those which have been overfished. It is therefore appropriate to operate deductions from those alternative fishing quotas allocated to those Member States in 2025.

(10)

In certain cases, exchanges of fishing opportunities concluded in accordance with Article 16(8) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13) enabled full or partial deductions from the same stocks in the framework of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158.

(11)

Moreover, certain deductions provided for by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 exceed the adapted quotas available in the year 2025 and, as a consequence, cannot be entirely operated in that year. In those cases, according to point 2 of the Guidelines, the deductions, including the amounts resulting from applicable mutliplying factors where relevant, have been operated to the full extent of the available quota and the remaining amounts should be deducted from the adapted quota in subsequent years until the due deductions are fully paid back.

(12)

In 2023, Germany overfished its quota for other species in Norwegian waters of 1 and 2 (OTH/1N2AB.) by 1,320 tonnes. Additionally, in accordance with point 2 of the Guidelines, a deduction of 19,997 tonnes remained following the overfishing, by Germany, of its quota for OTH/1N2AB. in 2022. By electronic mail dated 1 July 2024, Germany requested to spread the due deduction, namely 21,317 tonnes, over three years. Considering that, in accordance with point 3(b) of the Guidelines, a slower payback is exceptionally possible where the stock concerned is caught in a mixed fishery and a significant loss of quota would prevent the exploitation of the associated species in that mixed fishery catch, this request was accepted. A deduction of 7,106 tonnes has been operated on the German quota for OTH/1N2AB. in 2024 and in 2025. The remaining deduction amounting to 7,105 tonnes shall be applied to the German quota for OTH/1N2AB. in 2026 without prejudice to any further quota adaptation.

(13)

On 5 November 2025, Italy submitted updated catch declarations for July, October and November 2024 following a technical issue with the reporting of the catches taken by a vessel flying its flag. On the basis of the updated data transmitted by Italy, the Italian quotas for bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna in the IOTC area of competence (BET/IOTC and YFT/IOTC) were exceeded in 2024. The corresponding deductions should consequently be operated on the respective Italian quotas for 2025.

(14)

Regulation (EU) 2024/257 established a Union quota limit amounting to 209 tonnes for common sole in areas 8c, 8d, 8e, 9 and 10; Union waters of CECAF 34.1.1 (SOL/8CDE34). Portugal reported catches amounting to 226,349 tonnes under that quota limit. Based on the data transmitted, Portugal has exceeded the Union quota limit fixed for 2024. The corresponding deduction on account of this overfishing should consequently be operated on the Portuguese quota in 2025. Since Portugal has no available quota for the overfished stock, the deduction should be operated on an alternative stock in accordance with afore-mentioned Article 105(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.

(15)

Point 1 of the Guidelines states that, where applicable, the timeline for deductions in case of overfishing of a quota for stocks managed by regional fisheries management organisations is to be adapted to the timeline for deductions set in the regional fisheries management organisations concerned for these stocks.

(16)

Recommendation 22-03 by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for the conservation of North Atlantic swordfish (14) provides that any excess of the annual adjusted quota in the year 2024 is to be deducted from the respective quota/catch limit for 2026. On this basis, the deduction due on account of overfishing by Portugal in 2024 for the stock of swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean, north of 5° N (SWO/AN05N) should be operated on its quota for 2026.

(17)

Similarly, Recommendation 22-04 by ICCAT for the conservation of South Atlantic swordfish (15) establishes that any excess of the annual quota/catch limit in 2024 is to be deducted from the respective quota/catch limit in 2026. Consequently, the deduction, including the amount resulting from applicable multiplying factor, due on account of the overfishing in 2024 by France for the stock of swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean, south of 5°N (SWO/AS05N) should be operated on its quota for 2026.

(18)

Furthermore, Recommendation 23-10 by ICCAT on management measures for the conservation of North Atlantic blue shark (16) provides that any amount caught in excess of the annual catch limits established for 2024 is to be deducted from the respective catch limits in 2026. The deduction on account of overfishing in 2024 by Portugal for the stock of blue shark in the Atlantic Ocean, north of 5°N (BSH/AN05N) should therefore be operated on its quota for 2026.

(19)

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2158 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(20)

Further updates or corrections may still occur following the detection, for the current or previous exercises, of errors, omissions or misreporting in the catch figures declared by the Member States pursuant to Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009,