Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/306 of 18 December 2017 laying down specifications for the implementation of the landing obligation as regards cod and plaice in Baltic Sea fisheries

This Regulation specifies the details for implementing the landing obligation, as regards cod and plaice caught in the fisheries for herring, sprat and cod in the Baltic Sea.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definition shall apply: ‘Baltic Sea’ means ICES divisions IIIb, IIIc and IIId, as specified in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 218/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

1 By way of derogation from Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013, the landing obligation shall not apply to cod and plaice caught with trap-nets, creels/pots, fyke-nets and pound nets in the fisheries for herring, sprat and cod.

2 Such species caught without an available quota or below the minimum conservation reference size in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 1 shall be released back into the sea.

The minimum conservation reference size for cod in the Baltic Sea shall be 35 cm.

1 By 1 March 2019, Member States having a direct management interest shall provide the Commission with information allowing to assess the representativeness and quality of the discard survival estimate of plaice caught with trap-nets, creels/pots, fyke-nets and pound nets.

2 The Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) shall assess the information referred to in paragraph 1 by 1 August 2019 at the latest.

The Commission shall, on the basis of advice from STECF, evaluate the impact of the survivability exemption on the stocks concerned and on the fisheries exploiting those stocks in the third year of application of this Regulation.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 1 January 2018.