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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 zones VIIIc and IXa excluding the Gulf of Cadiz. For the purposes of this Annex, a reference to the 2008 management period means the period from 1 February 2008 to 31 January 2009.

2. Definition of day present within the 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. Fishing gear For the purpose of this Annex, the following grouping of fishing gears shall apply:

— Trawls, Danish seines and similar gears of mesh size equal to or larger than 32 mm and gill-nets of mesh size equal to or larger than 60 mm and bottom long-lines. IMPLEMENTATION OF FISHING EFFORT LIMITATIONS 4. Vessels concerned by fishing effort limitations 4.1. Vessels using gears belonging to the grouping of fishing gear referred to in point 3 and fishing in areas defined in point 1 shall hold a special fishing permit issued in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1627/94.

4.2. A Member State shall not permit fishing with any gear belonging to the grouping of fishing 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, 2005, 2006 or 2007 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.

4.3. 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 in that area with a gear belonging to the grouping of fishing gear defined in point 3, 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 12 or 13 of this Annex ◄ .

5. Limitations in activity Each Member State shall ensure that, when carrying on board any gear belonging to the grouping of fishing gear 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.

6. Exceptions

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. During the 2008 management period, the maximum number of days at sea for which a Member State may authorize a vessel flying its flag to be present within the area having carried on board any gear belonging to the grouping of fishing gear referred to in point 3 is shown in Table I.

7.2. For the purposes of fixing the maximum number of days at sea a fishing vessel may be authorized by its flag Member State to be present within the area, the following special conditions shall apply during the 2008 management period in accordance with Table I:

(a) The total landings of hake in 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 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.

7.3. During the 2008 management period, a Member State may manage its fishing effort allocations according to a kilowatt days system. By that system it may authorise any vessel concerned for any gear of the grouping of fishing gears and special conditions laid down in Table I to be present within the area for a maximum number of days which is different from that set out in that Table, provided that the overall amount of kilowatt days corresponding to the grouping and special condition is respected. This overall amount of kilowatt days shall be the sum of all individual fishing efforts allocated to the vessels flying the flag of that Member State and qualified for the grouping of fishing gears referred to in point 3 and special condition. Such individual fishing efforts shall be calculated in kilowatt days by multiplying the engine power of each vessel by the number of days at sea it would benefit from, according to table I, if the provisions of this point were not applied.

7.4. A Member State wishing to benefit from the provisions laid down in point 7.3 shall submit a request to the Commission with reports in electronic format containing for the grouping of fishing gears and special condition as laid down in Table I the details of the calculation based on — list of vessels authorized to fish by indicating their Community Fleet Register number (CFR) and their engine power;

— track records of 2001, 2002 and 2003 for such vessels reflecting the catch composition defined in special conditions 7.2(a) or (b), if these vessels are qualified for such special conditions;

— the number of days at sea for which each vessel would had initially been authorized to fish according to Table I and the number of days at sea which each vessel would benefit from in application of point 7.3. On the basis of that description, the Commission may authorize that Member State to benefit from the provisions defined in point 7.3.

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 of one or more calendar months.

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 cessation of fishing activities

9.1. An additional number of days at sea on which a vessel may be authorized by its flag Member State to be present within the geographical area when carrying on board any gear belonging to the grouping of fishing 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 effort expended in 2003 measured in kilowatt days of the withdrawn vessels using the gears in question shall be divided by the effort expended by all vessels using those gears during 2003. The additional number of days at sea shall be then calculated by multiplying the ratio so obtained by the number of days that would have been allocated according to Table I. 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 4.1 or when the withdrawal has already been used in previous years to obtain additional days at sea.

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 in electronic format containing for the grouping of fishing gears and special condition as laid down in Table I the details of the calculation based on — lists of withdrawn vessels with their Community Fleet Register number (CFR) and their engine power;

— the fishing activity deployed by such vessels in 2003 calculated in days at sea according to the grouping of fishing gears and if necessary special condition.

9.3. On the basis of such a request the Commission may amend the number of days defined in point 7.1 for that Member State in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.