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Definitions For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions set out in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 apply, unless otherwise provided for in this Regulation. The following definitions also apply:

(1) ‘NEAFC’ means the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission;

(2) ‘Convention’ means the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in North-East Atlantic fisheries ;

(3) ‘Convention Area’ means the areas:

(a) within those parts of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and their dependent seas which lie north of 36o north latitude and between 42o west longitude and 51o east longitude, but excluding:

(i) the Baltic Sea and the Belts lying to the south and east of lines drawn from Hasenore Head to Gniben Point, from Korshage to Spodsbierg and from Gilbierg Head to the Kullen; and (ii) the Mediterranean Sea and its dependent seas as far as the point of intersection of the parallel of 36o north latitude and the meridian of 5o 36′ west longitude;

(b) within that part of the Atlantic Ocean north of 59o north latitude and between 44o west longitude and 42o west longitude;

(4) ‘Regulatory Area’ means the waters of the Convention Area which lie beyond the waters under the fisheries jurisdiction of Contracting Parties;

(5) ‘Contracting Parties’ means the Contracting Parties to the Convention;

(6) ‘vulnerable marine ecosystems’ or ‘VMEs’ means marine ecosystems identified using the criteria in paragraphs 42 and 43 of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in the High Seas;

(7) ‘regulated resources’ means the fishery resources which are subject to recommendations under the Convention and are listed in Annex I;

(8) ‘VME indicator species’ means the species that signals the occurrence of VMEs, as specified in Annex II;

(9) ‘bottom fishing’ means the use of fishing gear that is likely to contact the seafloor during the normal course of fishing operations;

(10) ‘existing bottom fishing areas’ means the portion of the Regulatory Area where bottom fishing occurred in the period between 1987 to 2007, as defined by the coordinates set out in Annex III;

(11) ‘exploratory bottom fishing’ means all commercial bottom fishing within restricted bottom fishing areas or, if there are significant changes to the conduct and technology of bottom fishing, within existing bottom fishing areas;

(12) ‘fishing activities’ means fishing, including joint fishing operations, fish processing operations, the transhipment or landing of fishery resources or products thereof and any other commercial activity in preparation for, or related to, fishing, including packaging, transporting, refuelling or resupplying;

(13) ‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel used or intended for use for the purpose of commercial exploitation of fishery resources, including fish processing vessels and vessels engaged in transhipment;

(14) ‘encounter’ means the catch of VME indicator species above the following threshold levels:

(a) for a trawl tow and fishing gear other than longlines: the presence of more than 30 kg of live coral and/or 400 kg of live sponge; and (b) for a longline set: the presence of VME indicator species on 10 hooks per 1 000 hook segment or per 1 200 m section of long line, whichever is shorter;

(15) ‘VMS’ means a fishing vessel monitoring system providing the competent authorities with data at regular intervals on the position, course and speed of the fishing vessel;

(16) ‘report’ means the standardised information related to fishing activities recorded by electronic means;

(17) ‘NEAFC Secretariat’ means the NEAFC Secretary and other staff appointed by NEAFC in accordance with Article 3(7) of the Convention;

(18) ‘significant adverse impacts’ means impacts referred to in paragraphs 17 to 20 of the FAO International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in the High Seas;

(19) ‘fishery resources’ means the resources of fish, molluscs, crustaceans and including sedentary species, excluding, in so far as they are dealt with by other international agreements, highly migratory species listed in Annex I of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, and anadromous stocks;

(20) ‘message’ means the standardised form in which reports are exchanged between Contracting Parties and the NEAFC Secretariat or between Member States and the Commission;

(21) ‘IMO number’ means a seven-digit number allocated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) or any other agency which has been given that authority at the time of construction or when a ship is first included in the IMO registry of ships;

(22) ‘electronic fishing logbook’ means the record by electronic means of fishing activity details recorded by the master of a fishing vessel and transmitted to the flag State from the prior notification of entry into the Regulatory Area until the exit from the Regulatory Area;

(23) ‘FMC’ means a land-based fisheries monitoring centre of the flag State;

(24) ‘prior notification’ means a report on the intention to perform an activity in the future;

(25) ‘fishing trip’ means, with regard to fishing activities in the Regulatory Area, any voyage of a fishing vessel during which fishing activities are conducted from the time of entry into until its exit from the Regulatory Area;

(26) ‘declaration’ means a report of a fishing activity that is taking or has taken place at the time of its recording and transmission;

(27) ‘transhipment operation’ means the direct transfer of any quantity of fishery resources or products thereof retained on board from one fishing vessel to another;

(28) ‘EFCA’ means the European Fisheries Control Agency established by Regulation (EU) 2019/473 of the European Parliament and of the Council ;

(29) ‘port’ means any place on shore used for landing or for the provision of services in relation to, or in support of, fishing activities, or a place on or close to the shore designated by a Contracting Party for transhipping of fishery resources;

(30) ‘joint fishing operation’ means any operation between two or more fishing vessels where catch is taken from the fishing gear of one fishing vessel to another;

(31) ‘electronic data’ means all documents, reports, messages and forms electronically transmitted and received pursuant to the provisions of the NEAFC Scheme;

(32) ‘closed bottom fishing areas’ means areas closed to bottom fishing for the protection of VMEs in the Regulatory Area, as specified in point 8 of Annex IV;

(33) ‘non-Contracting Party vessel’ means any vessel engaged in fishing activities that is flagged neither in a Contracting Party nor in an active cooperating non-Contracting Party to NEAFC, or any fishing vessel for which there are reasonable grounds for suspecting it to be without nationality;

(34) ‘IUU fishing’ means any illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activities as defined in Article 2, points (1) to (4), of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008;

(35) ‘CFR number’ means the unique identification number of the vessel in the Union fishing fleet, irrespective of any national fishing fleet numbers and as referred to in Article 8 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218 .