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1. From 1 January to 31 December 2005, the conditions laid down in this Annex shall apply to Community fishing vessels fishing in the North Sea and the Skagerrak with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16 mm.

2. For the purposes of this Annex a day absent from port shall be:

(a) the 24-hour period between 00:00 hours of a calendar day and 24:00 hours of the same calendar day or any part of such a period, or (b) any continuous period of 24 hours as recorded in the EC logbook between the date and time of departure and the date and time of arrival or any part of any such time period.

3. Each Member State concerned shall, not later than 1 March 2005, establish a data base containing for the North Sea and Skagerrak, for each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 and for each vessel flying its flag or registered within the Community which have been fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16mm, the following information:

(a) the name and internal registration number of the vessel;

(b) the installed engine power of the vessel in kilowatts measured in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86;

(c) the number of days absent from port when fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gear with a mesh size of less than 16 mm;

(d) the kilowatt-days as the product of the number of days absent from port and the installed engine power in kilowatts.

4. The following quantities shall be calculated by each Member State:

(a) the total kilowatt-days for each year as the sum of the kilowatt-days calculated in paragraph 3(d);

(b) the average kilowatt-days for the period 2002 to 2004.

5. Each Member State shall ensure that the number of kilowatt-days in 2005 for vessels flying its flag or registered in the Community does not exceed 40 % of the number in 2004 as calculated in point 4(a).

6. The maximum number of kilowatt-days referred to in point 5 shall be revised by the Commission as early as possible and not later than 15 May 2005, based on advice from the STECF on the size of the 2004 year class of North Sea sandeel, in accordance with the following rules:

(a) where STECF estimates the size of the 2004 year class of North Sea sandeel to be at or above 500 000 million individuals at age 0, no restrictions in kilowatt-days shall apply for the remaining of 2005;

(b) where STECF estimates the size of the 2004 year class of North Sea sandeel to be between 300 000 million and 500 000 million individuals at age 0, the number of kilowatt-days shall not exceed the level in 2003 as calculated in point 4(a);

(c) where STECF estimates the size of the 2004 year class of North Sea sandeel to be below 300 000 million individuals at age 0, fishing with demersal trawl, seine or similar towed gears with a mesh size of less than 16 mm shall be prohibited for the remaining of 2005. However, a limited fishery will be allowed in order to monitor the sandeel stocks in the North Sea and the Skagerrak and the effects of the closure. To this end the Member States concerned shall in cooperation with the Commission develop a plan for the monitoring fishery.