Title II, Chapter III, Section 7, Article 46 · Regulation (EU) 2024/2594

Contents

Article 46Landings, transhipments and use of port#

1.Landings, transhipments or other use of port by non-Contracting Party vessels may only start after authorisation has been given by the competent authorities of the port Member State in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008.

2.When a non-Contracting Party fishing vessel has entered the port, Member States shall deny that vessel landing, transhipping, processing and packaging of fishery resources and other port services, including refuelling, resupplying, maintenance and dry-docking, if:

(a)the vessel has been inspected pursuant to Article 45 and the inspection reveals that there are species on board which are subject to NEAFC recommendations, unless the master of that fishing vessel provides satisfactory evidence to the competent authorities proving that the fish were caught outside the Regulatory Area or in compliance with all relevant NEAFC recommendations;

(b)the flag State of that fishing vessel or the flag State or States of donor fishing vessels when the vessel has engaged in transhipment operations do not provide the confirmation in accordance with Article 29;

(c)the master of that vessel has failed to fulfil any one of the obligations laid down in Article 24, points (b) to (f);

(d)Member States have received clear evidence that the fishery resources on board were taken in the waters under the jurisdiction of a Contracting Party in contravention of applicable regulations; or

(e)Member States have sufficient proof that the vessel has otherwise been engaged in IUU fishing activities in the Convention Area or has supported such fishing activities.

3.In the case of denial pursuant to paragraph 2, Member States shall communicate their decision to the master of the non-Contracting Party fishing vessel or to a representative of the master and to the NEAFC Secretariat with the Commission and EFCA in copy.

4.Member States shall withdraw their denial of the use of their ports in respect of a non-Contracting Party fishing vessel only if there is sufficient proof that the grounds on which use was denied were inadequate or erroneous or that such grounds no longer exist.

5.Where a Member State has withdrawn its denial pursuant to paragraph 4, it shall promptly notify those to whom a communication was made pursuant to paragraph 3.

Defined terms · 29

Show every defined term

bottom fishing
means the use of fishing gear that is likely to contact the seafloor during the normal course of fishing operations;
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;
Contracting Parties
means the Contracting Parties to the Convention;
Convention
means the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in North-East Atlantic fisheries;
Convention Area
means the areas:
declaration
means a report of a fishing activity that is taking or has taken place at the time of its recording and transmission;
EFCA
means the European Fisheries Control Agency established by Regulation (EU) 2019/473 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
electronic data
means all documents, reports, messages and forms electronically transmitted and received pursuant to the provisions of the NEAFC Scheme;
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;
encounter
means the catch of VME indicator species above the following threshold levels:
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
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;
FMC
means a land-based fisheries monitoring centre of the flag State;
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;
message
means the standardised form in which reports are exchanged between Contracting Parties and the NEAFC Secretariat or between Member States and the Commission;
NEAFC
means the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission;
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;
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;
prior notification
means a report on the intention to perform an activity in the future;
regulated resources
means the fishery resources which are subject to recommendations under the Convention and are listed in Annex I;
Regulatory Area
means the waters of the Convention Area which lie beyond the waters under the fisheries jurisdiction of Contracting Parties;
report
means the standardised information related to fishing activities recorded by electronic means;
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;
transhipment operation
means the direct transfer of any quantity of fishery resources or products thereof retained on board from one fishing vessel to another;
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;