(1)

In accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy (2), the common fisheries policy must provide for coherent measures concerning the conservation, management and exploitation of living aquatic resources, including specific measures to reduce the impact of fishing activities on marine ecosystems and non-target species.

(2)

Article 45(1) of Regulation (EC) No 850/98 provides that, where the conservation of stocks of marine organisms calls for immediate action, the Commission may, in addition to or by way of derogation from that Regulation, adopt any measures necessary.

(3)

Advice received in June 2011 from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (hereinafter ‘ICES’) shows that discarding rates in the Celtic Sea, particularly of juvenile haddock and whiting, are high and increasing. Discarding fish before they have reproduced reduces the potential yield for future years and thus threatens the sustainability of the stocks.

(4)

Both the fleets targeting Norway lobster and the fleets using bottom trawls and seines to target mixed finfish have high levels of haddock and whiting discards due to the poor selectivity of the gears used. ICES also states that the cod stock is highly dependent on recruitment of fish, and that technical measures should be encouraged to reduce discards. With recent high recruitment in both haddock and whiting stocks in the Celtic Sea, discarding is expected to get worse this year. Consequently, ICES advises that technical measures should be introduced urgently to increase selectivity and reduce discards of haddock, whiting and cod.

(5)

It is therefore necessary to introduce the use of square-meshed panels to improve the size selectivity of the gears used and protect the juvenile fish entering the stock, whilst maintaining as much of the catches of target species as possible. Square-meshed panels have been shown to reduce fishing mortality significantly by allowing fish to escape and are an effective measure that can be introduced immediately.

(6)

In October 2011 the North Western Waters Regional Advisory Council (NWWRAC) issued advice that the current technical measures in the Celtic Sea should be improved to reduce discards, especially of haddock and whiting, by requiring the use of an appropriately positioned square-meshed panel of a specified size depending on the gear type and engine power of the vessel.

(7)

Therefore, the conservation of haddock and whiting stocks in the Celtic Sea require immediate action.

(8)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,