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1. Scope The conditions laid down in this Annex shall apply to Community vessels of length overall equal to or greater than 10 metres, carrying on board towed and static gears defined in point 3 and present in Divisions VIIIc and IXa excluding the Gulf of Cadiz. For the purposes of this Annex, a reference to the year 2006 means the period from 1 February 2006 to 31 January 2007 2. Definition of days present within an area For the purpose of this Annex, a day present within an area shall be any continuous period of 24 hours (or part thereof) during which a vessel is present within the geographical area defined in point 1 and absent from port. The time from which the continuous period is measured is at the discretion of the Member State whose flag is flown by the vessel concerned.

3. Definition of fishing gear For the purpose of this Annex, the following groupings of fishing gears shall apply:

(a) Trawls, Danish seines and similar gears of mesh size:

(i) equal to or larger than 32 mm and less than 55 mm;

(ii) equal to or larger than 55 mm;

(b) Gill-nets of mesh size:

(i) equal to or larger than 60 mm and less than 80 mm;

(ii) equal to or larger than 80 mm;

(c) Bottom long-lines. IMPLEMENTATION OF FISHING EFFORT LIMITATIONS 4. Obligations of the Member States Each Member State shall ensure that, when carrying on board any of the fishing gears referred to in point 3, fishing vessels flying its flag and registered in the Community shall be present within the area for no more than the number of days specified in point 7.

5. Levels of fishing effort 5.1. A Member State shall not permit fishing with a gear defined in point 3 in the area by any of its vessels which have no record of such fishing activity in the years 2002,2003, 2004 or 2005 in the area, excluding the record of fishing activities as a result of transfer of days between fishing vessels, unless it ensures that equivalent capacity, measured in kilowatts, is prevented from fishing in the regulated area.

However, a vessel with a track record of using a gear defined in point 3 may be authorised to use a different gear defined in point 3, provided that the number of days allocated to this latter gear is greater than or equal to the number of days allocated to the first gear.

5.2 A vessel flying the flag of a Member State having no quotas in the area defined in point 1 shall not be permitted to fish with a gear defined in point 3 in that area, unless the vessel is allocated a quota after a transfer as permitted according to the Article 20 (5) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 and is allocated days at sea according to point 13 of this Annex.

6. Calculation of fishing effort

A Member State shall not count against the days allocated to any of its vessels under this Annex either any days when the vessel has been present within the area but unable to fish because it was assisting another vessel in need of emergency aid or any days when a vessel has been present within the area but unable to fish because it is transporting an injured person for emergency medical aid. The Member State shall provide justification to the Commission within one month of any decisions taken on this basis with associated evidence of the emergency from the competent authorities. NUMBER OF DAYS PRESENT WITHIN THE AREA ALLOCATED TO FISHING VESSELS 7. Maximum number of days 7.1. For the purposes of fixing the maximum number of days a fishing vessel may be present within the area, the following special conditions shall apply in accordance with Table I:

(a) The total landings of hake in any of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 made by the vessel, or by the vessel or vessels using similar gears and qualifying for this special condition, mutatis mutandis, that it has replaced in accordance with Community law, shall represent less than 5 tonnes according to the landings in live weight consigned in the Community logbook, and;

(b) The total landings of Norway lobster in any of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 made by the vessel, or by the vessel or vessels using similar gears and qualifying for this special condition, mutatis mutandis, that it has replaced in accordance with Community law, shall represent less than 2,5 tonnes according to the landings in live weight consigned in the Community logbook.

7.2. The maximum number of days 2006per year for which a vessel may be present within the area having carried on board any one of the fishing gears referred to in point 3 is shown in Table I.

8. Management periods 8.1. A Member State may divide the days present within the area given in Table I into management periods of durations one or more calendar month.

8.2. The number of days for which a vessel may be present within the area during a management period shall be fixed at the discretion of the Member State concerned 8.3. In any given management period a vessel may undertake non-fishing related activities, without that time being counted against its days allocated under point 7, provided that the vessel first notifies its flag Member State of its intention to do so, the nature of its activity and that it surrenders its fishing licence for this time. Such vessels shall not carry any fishing gear or fish on board during that time.

9. Allocation of additional days for permanent cessations of fishing activities

9.1. An additional number of days on which a vessel may be present within the area when carrying on board any of the gears referred to in point 3 may be allocated to Member States by the Commission on the basis of permanent cessations of fishing activities that have taken place since 1 January 2004 either in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999 or resulting from other circumstances duly motivated by Member States. Any vessels that can be shown to have been definitively withdrawn from the area may also be considered. The additional number of days allocated to vessels in a given gear category will be directly proportional to the fishing effort expended in 2003 measured in kilowatt days of the withdrawn vessels using the gear in question compared to the comparable level of effort expended by all vessels using that gear during 2003. Any part of a day resulting from this calculation shall be rounded to the nearest whole day. . This point shall not apply where a vessel has been replaced in accordance with point 5.2.

9.2. Member States wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 9.1. shall submit a request to the Commission with reports containing the details of permanent cessations of fishing activities in question.

9.3. On the basis of such a request the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 7.2. for that Member State in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

10. Allocation of additional days for enhanced observer coverage 10.1. Three additional days on which a vessel may be present within the area when carrying onboard any of the gears referred to in point 4 may be allocated in 2006 to Member States by the Commission on the basis of an enhanced programme of observer coverage in partnership between scientists and the fishing industry. Such a programme shall focus in particular on levels of discarding and on catch composition.

10.2. Member States wishing to benefit from the allocations referred to in point 10.1 shall submit a description of their enhanced observer coverage programme.

10.3. On the basis of this description, and after consultation with STECF, the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 8.2 for that Member State and for the area and gear grouping concerned in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

11. Conditions for derogations from the normal allocation of days 11.1 If a vessel has received an additional number of days resulting from compliance with the special conditions listed in points 7.1(a) and 7.1(b) the vessel's landings shall not in 2006 exceed 5 tonnes live weight of hake and 2,5 tonnes live weight of Norway lobster.

11.2. The vessel shall not tranship any fish at sea to another vessel.

11.3. When either of these conditions is not met by a vessel, that vessel shall with immediate effect no longer be entitled to the additional days. EXCHANGES OF FISHING EFFORT ALLOCATIONS AND DAYS PRESENT WITHIN THE AREA 12. Transfer of days between vessels flying the flag of a Member State

12.1. According to provisions laid down in point 5, a Member State may permit any fishing vessel flying its flag to transfer days present within the area for which it is eligible to another vessel flying its flag within the area provided that the product of the days received by a vessel multiplied by its engine power in kilowatts (kilowatt days) is equal to or less than the product of the days transferred by the donor vessel and the engine power in kilowatts of that vessel. The engine power in kilowatts of the vessels shall be that recorded for each vessel in the Community fishing fleet register.

12.2. The total number of days present within the area transferred under point 12.1. multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of the donor vessel shall not be higher than the donor vessel's average annual days track record in the area as verified by the Community logbook in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 and 2004, multiplied by the engine power in kilowatts of that vessel.

12.3. The transfer of days as described in 12.1. shall be permitted only between vessels operating within the same gear group and during the same management period.