The Council adopted its position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 establishing a long-term plan for cod stocks and the fisheries exploiting those stocks.
The aim of the proposal was to amend the existing Regulation of 2008 for a long-term plan for cod stocks. It suggested inter alia to:
The main amendments made to Council Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 are as follows:
Objective of the plan: the plan shall aim to ensure exploitation that restores and maintains the cod stocks above levels which can produce maximum sustainable yield.
Any management measure taken pursuant to this Regulation shall be consistent with the requirements laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 and with the principles and aims of that Regulation;
Minimum and precautionary biomass levels: when adopting management measures, minimum and precautionary biomass levels for each of the cod stocks shall be consistent with the objectives of Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013.
Rules for setting the total allowable catch (TAC): the Council position deleted from the 2008 Regulation Articles 7 (the TACs for cod stocks in the Kattegat, the west of Scotland and the Irish Sea) and Article 8 (the TACs for the cod stock in the North Sea, the Skagerrak and the eastern Channel).
Setting of TACs in poor data conditions: where, due to a lack of sufficiently accurate and representative information, fishing opportunities cannot be determined, the fixing of fishing opportunities shall be based on the precautionary approach, taking into account trends in the cod stock and in the fishing activity, and ensuring at least a comparable degree of conservation of the relevant stocks.
Fishing authorisations and capacity ceilings: in addition to the fishing effort regime, Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 introduced a system of special fishing permits linked to a limitation of the total capacity of fishing vessels' engine power in a relevant area.
In order to avoid the disruptive dislocation of fishing activity which could have a negative impact on the stocks' recovery, the Council position provides to maintain that for each of the areas set out in the Plan, the total fishing capacity shall not be greater than the maximum capacity of the vessels that have been active in 2006 or 2007.
Chapter III of Council Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 on fishing effort limitation has been deleted.
Annexes: Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a Union control system repealed a number of provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 that referred to Annexes II and III thereto. Since there are no other references in Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 to those Annexes, they became obsolete and should be deleted.