- aquaculture
means the rearing or cultivation of aquatic organisms using techniques designed to increase the production of the organisms in question beyond the natural capacity of the environment, where the organisms remain the property of a natural or legal person throughout the rearing and culture stage, up to and including harvesting;
- aquaculture products
means aquatic organisms at any stage of their life cycle resulting from any aquaculture activity or products derived therefrom;
- Baltic Sea
means ICES zones IIIb, IIIc and IIId;
- Black Sea
means the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) geographical sub-area as defined in Resolution GFCM/33/2009/2.
- catch limit
means, as appropriate, either a quantitative limit on catches of a fish stock or group of fish stocks over a given period where such fish stocks or group of fish stocks are subject to an obligation to land, or a quantitative limit on landings of a fish stock or group of fish stocks over a given period for which the obligation to land does not apply;
- conservation reference point
means values of fish stock population parameters (such as biomass or fishing mortality rate) used in fisheries management, for example in respect of an acceptable level of biological risk or a desired level of yield;
- discards
means catches that are returned to the sea;
- ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management
means an integrated approach to managing fisheries within ecologically meaningful boundaries which seeks to manage the use of natural resources, taking account of fishing and other human activities, while preserving both the biological wealth and the biological processes necessary to safeguard the composition, structure and functioning of the habitats of the ecosystem affected, by taking into account the knowledge and uncertainties regarding biotic, abiotic and human components of ecosystems;
- end-user of scientific data
means a body with a research or management interest in the scientific analysis of data in the fisheries sector;
- entry to the fishing fleet
means registration of a fishing vessel in the fishing vessel register of a Member State;
- fishery products
means aquatic organisms resulting from any fishing activity or products derived therefrom;
- fishing activity
means searching for fish, shooting, setting, towing, hauling of a fishing gear, taking catch on board, transhipping, retaining on board, processing on board, transferring, caging, fattening and landing of fish and fishery products;
- fishing authorisation
means an authorisation as defined in point (10) of Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;
- fishing capacity
means a vessel's tonnage in GT (Gross Tonnage) and its power in kW (Kilowatt) as defined in Articles 4 and 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2930/86;
- fishing effort
means the product of the capacity and the activity of a fishing vessel;
- fishing licence
means a licence as defined in point (9) of Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;
- fishing mortality rate
means the rate at which biomass or individuals are removed from a stock by means of fishery activities over a given period;
- fishing vessel
means any vessel equipped for commercial exploitation of marine biological resources or a blue fin tuna trap;
- fresh water biological resources
means available and accessible living fresh water aquatic species;
- low impact fishing
means utilising selective fishing techniques which have a low detrimental impact on marine ecosystems or which may result in low fuel emissions, or both;
- marine biological resources
means available and accessible living marine aquatic species, including anadromous and catadromous species during their marine life;
- maximum sustainable yield
means the highest theoretical equilibrium yield that can be continuously taken on average from a stock under existing average environmental conditions without significantly affecting the reproduction process;
- Mediterranean Sea
means Maritime Waters of the Mediterranean to the East of line 5°36′ West;
- Member State having a direct management interest
means a Member State which has an interest consisting of either fishing opportunities or a fishery taking place in the exclusive economic zone of the Member State concerned, or, in the Mediterranean Sea, a traditional fishery on the high seas;
- minimum conservation reference size
means the size of a living marine aquatic species taking into account maturity, as established by Union law, below which restrictions or incentives apply that aim to avoid capture through fishing activity;
- mixed fisheries
means fisheries in which more than one species is present and where different species are likely to be caught in the same fishing operation;
- North Sea
means ICES zones IIIa and IV;
- North Western waters
means ICES zones V (excluding Va and only Union waters of Vb), VI and VII;
- operator
means the natural or legal person who operates or holds any undertaking carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of production, processing, marketing, distribution and retail chains of fisheries and aquaculture products;
- safeguard
means a precautionary measure designed to avoid something undesirable occurring;
- selective fishing
means fishing with fishing methods or fishing gears that target and capture organisms by size or species during the fishing operation, allowing non-target specimens to be avoided or released unharmed;
- serious infringement
means an infringement that is defined as such in relevant Union law, including in Article 42(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 and in Article 90(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009;
- South Western waters
means ICES zones VIII, IX and X (waters around Azores), and CECAF zones 34.1.1, 34.1.2 and 34.2.0 (waters around Madeira and the Canary Islands);
- spawning stock biomass
means an estimate of the mass of the fish of a particular stock that reproduces at a defined time, including both males and females and fish that reproduce viviparously;
- stock
means a marine biological resource that occurs in a given management area;
- stock within safe biological limits
means a stock with a high probability that its estimated spawning biomass at the end of the previous year is higher than the limit biomass reference point (Blim) and its estimated fishing mortality rate for the previous year is less than the limit fishing mortality rate reference point (Flim);
- surplus of allowable catch
means that part of the allowable catch which a coastal State does not harvest, resulting in an overall exploitation rate for individual stocks that remains below levels at which stocks are capable of restoring themselves and maintaining populations of harvested species above desired levels based on the best available scientific advice;
- sustainable fisheries partnership agreement
means an international agreement concluded with a third state for the purpose of obtaining access to waters and resources in order to sustainably exploit a share of the surplus of marine biological resources, in exchange for financial compensation from the Union, which may include sectoral support.
- technical measure
means a measure that regulates the composition of catches by species and size and the impacts on components of the ecosystems resulting from fishing activities by establishing conditions for the use and structure of fishing gear and restrictions on access to fishing areas;
- transferable fishing concession
means a revocable user entitlement to a specific part of fishing opportunities allocated to a Member State or established in a management plan adopted by a Member State in accordance with Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006, which the holder may transfer;
- Union fishing vessel
means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union;
- Union waters
means the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Member States, with the exception of the waters adjacent to the territories listed in Annex II to the Treaty;