Fishing in the north-east Atlantic – rules on deep-sea stocks and international waters

KEY POINTS

• Deep-sea fishing with bottom trawls (i.e. gear designed to catch species on or near the bottom of the sea) below 800 metres from the water surface is banned.
• Based on the best available scientific advice, the European Commission established in 2022, by means of Regulation (EU) 2022/1614, the list of areas where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur in EU waters. These areas are closed to all bottom gears operating in EU waters at a depth below 400 metres.
• Two types of fishing authorisation are introduced for:
  • vessels that land more than 8% of deep-sea species in any fishing trip and at least 10 tonnes in the calendar year concerned (target authorisation); and
  • vessels that have by-catches² of deep-sea species, which are subject to a flexibility of 15% beyond 10 tonnes (by-catch authorisation).
• Fishing capacity is capped based on the capacity of vessels that landed more than 10 tonnes of deep-sea species in 2009–2011.
• Targeted deep-sea fisheries are confined to areas (known as the ‘footprint area’) where deep-sea fishing occurred in 2009–2011.
• EU Member States may submit to the Commission, on behalf of their fishing fleets, a request to carry out exploratory fishing outside the footprint area. Requests must be accompanied by an impact assessment and indicate the estimated duration of exploratory fisheries and the estimated number of vessels taking part and their capacity. The Commission sets the conditions for such fishing by means of implementing acts. The duration of exploratory fishing is limited to a maximum of 1 year (renewable once).
• Vessels must report encounters³ with VMEs below a depth of 400 metres and move to an alternative area at least 5 nautical miles away from the area of encounter.
• The regulation introduces stricter rules including:
  • restrictions on transhipment⁴;
  • real-time reporting on the use of quota;
  • follow-up of misreported catches;
  • specific control and inspection programmes.
• Quantities exceeding 100 kg of deep-sea species may only be landed in designated ports. The intention to land them must be notified at least 4 hours in advance and 1 hour in advance for vessels of no more than 12 metres.
• A fishing authorisation can be withdrawn for at least 2 months in the event of non-compliance with its conditions regarding:
  • use of inappropriate fishing gear;
  • areas of operation and catch limits;
  • failure to take an observer on board.
• It also sets out rules on data collection standards and requirements for observer coverage to ensure the collection of relevant, timely and accurate data on catches and by-catches of deep-sea species. Data should also be collected on encounters with VMEs of at least 20% for targeting vessels using bottom trawls and bottom-set gillnets and 10% coverage for other vessels. This coverage may be adapted by the Commission on the basis of scientific advice.
• The above measures concern EU waters and certain areas covered by the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic where EU vessels fish. In the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission area, the existing rules on fishing permits, designated ports and data collection continue to apply, along with the increased observer coverage of 20%.
• The regulation has been evaluated to determine the extent to which its objectives have been achieved. The evaluation, published in May 2021, is available on the dedicated website: deep-sea fisheries.