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1. Fishing with trawl nets, dredges, purse seines, boat seines, shore seines or similar nets above seagrass beds of, in particular, Posidonia oceanica or other marine phanerogams shall be prohibited. By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, the use of purse seines, boat seines or similar nets, whose overall drop and behaviour in fishing operations mean that the purse-line, the lead-line or the hauling ropes do not touch the seagrass bed, may be authorised within management plans provided for under either Articles 18 or 19 of this Regulation.

2. Fishing with trawl nets, dredges, shore seines or similar nets above coralligenous habitats and mäerl beds shall be prohibited.

————— 4. The prohibition established in paragraphs 1, subparagraph 1 and paragraph 2 shall, from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, apply to all Natura 2000 sites, all special protected areas and all specially protected areas of Mediterranean interest (SPAMI) which have been designated for the purpose of the conservation of these habitats under either Directive 92/43/EEC or Decision 1999/800/EC.

5. By way of derogation from subparagraph 1 of paragraph 1, fishing by vessels of less than or equal to 12 metres overall length and engine power of less than or equal to 85 kW with bottom towed nets traditionally undertaken on Posidonia beds may be authorised by the Commission in accordance with the procedure provided in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 provided that:

(i) the fishing activities concerned are regulated by a management plan provided for under Article 19 of this Regulation;

(ii) the fishing activities concerned affect not more than 33 % of the area covered by seagrass beds of Posidonia oceanica within the area covered by the management plan;

(iii) the fishing activities concerned affect not more than 10 % of seagrass beds in the territorial waters of the Member State concerned. Fishing activities authorised pursuant to this paragraph shall:

(a) fulfil the requirements of Article 8(1)(h), Article 9(3)(2) and Article 23;

(b) be regulated in order to ensure that catches of species mentioned in Annex III are minimal. However, Article 9(3)(1) shall not apply.

Whenever a fishing vessel, operating under the provisions of this paragraph, is withdrawn from the fleet with public funds the special fishing permit to undertake this fishing activity shall be withdrawn and shall not be reissued. Member States concerned shall establish a monitoring plan and report to the Commission every three years from the entry into force of this Regulation on the status of the seagrass beds of Posidonia oceanica affected by bottom towed nets activities and the list of fishing vessels authorised. The first report shall be communicated to the Commission before 31 July 2009.

6. Member States shall take appropriate steps to ensure the collection of scientific information with a view to the identification and mapping of habitats to be protected under this Article.