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1. It shall be prohibited for Union fishing vessels, as well as for any commercial fisheries from shore, to fish for European seabass in ICES divisions 4b and 4c, and in ICES subarea 7. It shall be prohibited to retain on board, tranship, relocate or land European seabass caught in that area.

2. By derogation from paragraph 1, in January 2019 and from 1 April to 31 December 2019, Union fishing vessels in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 7d, 7e, 7f and 7h and in waters within 12 nautical miles from baselines under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in ICES divisions 7a and 7g may fish for European seabass, and retain on board, tranship, relocate or land European seabass caught in that area with the following gears and within the following limits:

(a) using demersal trawls (), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 400 kilogrammes per two months and 1 % of the weight of the total catches of marine organisms on board caught by that vessel in any single day;

(b) using seines (), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 210 kilogrammes per month and 1 % of the weight of the total catches of marine organisms on board caught by that vessel in any single day;

(c) using hooks and lines (), not exceeding 5,5 tonnes per vessel per year;

(d) using fixed gillnets (), for unavoidable by-catches not exceeding 1,4 tonnes per vessel per year.

The derogations set out in the first subparagraph shall apply to Union fishing vessels that have recorded catches of European seabass over the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 September 2016: in point (c) with recorded catches using hooks and lines, and in point (d) with recorded catches using fixed gillnets. In the case of a replacement of a Union fishing vessel, Member States may allow the derogation to apply to another fishing vessel provided that the number of Union fishing vessels subject to the derogation and their overall fishing capacity do not increase.

3. The catch limits set in paragraph 2 shall not be transferable between vessels and, where a monthly limit applies, from one month to another. For Union fishing vessels using more than one gear in a single calendar month, the lowest catch limit set in paragraph 2 for either gear shall apply. Member States shall report to the Commission all catches of European seabass per type of gear not later than 15 days after the end of each month.

4. In recreational fisheries, including from shore, in ICES divisions 4b, 4c, 6a, 7a to 7k:

(a) from 1 January to 31 March and from 1 November and to 31 December 2019, only catch-and-release fishing allowing high rates of survivability for European seabass shall be allowed. During that period, it shall be prohibited to retain on board, relocate, tranship or land European seabass caught in that area;

(b) from 1 April to 31 October 2019, not more than one specimen of European seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.

5. In recreational fisheries in ICES divisions 8a and 8b, a maximum of three specimens of European seabass may be retained per fisherman per day.