(1)

Pursuant to Article 21 of the Act of Accession, Council Regulation (EC) No 1626/94 of 27 June 1994 laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources in the Mediterranean (3) is to be amended in accordance with the guidelines set out in Annex III of the Act of Accession with a view to adopting the necessary conservation measures relating to waters around Malta.

(2)

These measures need to be adopted before accession so as to be applicable from the accession of Malta,

1.

The following Articles are hereby inserted:

‘Article 8a

25-mile management zone around Malta

1.   The access of Community vessels to the waters and resources in the zone extending up to 25 nautical miles from baselines around the Maltese islands (hereinafter “the management zone”) shall be regulated as follows:

2.   By way of derogation from point (a) of paragraph 1, trawlers not exceeding an overall length of 24 metres shall be authorised to fish in certain areas within the management zone, as described in Annex V, part (a), to this Regulation, subject to the following conditions:

3.   If the overall fishing capacity referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2, exceeds the overall fishing capacity of trawlers with an overall length equal to, or less than, 24 metres and operating in the management zone in the reference period 2000-2001 (hereinafter referred to as the “reference fishing capacity”), the Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 10a, allocate this surplus of available fishing capacity between the Member States taking into account the interest of the Member States requesting an authorisation.

The reference fishing capacity shall correspond to 3 600 kW.

4.   Special fishing permits for the surplus of available fishing capacity referred to in paragraph 3 shall be issued only to vessels included in the Community fleet register at the date of application of this Article.

5.   If the overall fishing capacity of the trawlers authorised to operate in the management zone in accordance with paragraph 2(c) exceeds the ceiling laid down in paragraph 2(a), because that ceiling has been lowered after the revision provided for in paragraph 2(d), the Commission shall allocate fishing capacity between Member States on the following basis:

6.   By way of derogation from point (a) of paragraph 1, vessels fishing with purse seines or longlines and vessels fishing for dolphinfish in accordance with Article 8b shall be authorised to operate within the management zone. They shall be granted a special fishing permit in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1627/94 and shall be included in a list containing their name, their international registration number and vessels characteristics to be provided to the Commission by each Member State.

The fishing effort shall anyhow be controlled in order to safeguard the sustainability of these fisheries in the zone.

7.   The master of any trawler authorised to fish in the management zone in accordance with paragraph 2 which is not equipped with VMS shall signal each entry into and exit from the management zone to its authorities and to the authorities of the coastal State.

Article 8b

Dolphinfish fishery

1.   It shall be prohibited to fish dolphinfish (Coriphaena spp.) within the management zone by fishing aggregating devices (FADs) from 1 January to 5 August each year.

2.   The number of vessels participating in the dolphinfish fishery within the zone shall not exceed 130.

3.   The Maltese authorities shall establish FAD course lines and allocate each FAD course line to Community fishing vessels at the latest by 30 June each year. Community fishing vessels flying a flag other than that of Malta shall not be authorised to operate a FAD course line within the 12-mile zone.

4.   Fishing vessels authorised to participate in dolphinfish fishery shall be granted a special fishing permit in accordance with Article 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1627/94 and shall be included in a list containing their name, their international registration number and vessels characteristics to be provided to the Commission by each Member State.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1627/94, vessels of an overall length of less than 10 metres shall be required to have a special fishing permit.’

‘Article 10a

Implementing rules and amendments

Detailed rules for the implementation of Articles 8a and 8b, in particular, on the criteria to be applied for the establishment and allocation of FAD course lines pursuant to Article 8b(3), shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the common fisheries policy (5).’

2.

The text appearing in the Annex to this Regulation is inserted after Annex IV.