10.11.2015   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 292/1

(1)

Commission Regulation (EU) No 165/2011 (2), as amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 978/2014 (3), establishes that the fishing quota for mackerel (Scomber scombrus) in ICES zones VIIIc, IX and X, and in Union waters of CECAF zone 34.1.1 (‘mackerel fishing quota’), allocated to Spain in the year 2014, be subject to a deduction of 5 989 tonnes on account of overfishing in 2010.

(2)

Regulation (EU) No 165/2011 furthermore provides, also on account of overfishing in 2010, that the mackerel fishing quota allocated to Spain in the year 2015, and where appropriate in subsequent years, be subject to a deduction of 9 747 tonnes.

(3)

On 30 March 2015, the Spanish authorities informed the Commission that their mackerel fishing quota for the year 2014 had not been fully used and requested the Commission to take into account the unutilised tonnes in order to reduce to deductions provided for by Regulation (EU) No 165/2011 for the year 2015.

(4)

At the same time, Spain, had requested, pursuant to Article 4(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 (4), that, within the limits indicated in that Regulation, part of its mackerel fishing quota for 2014 be withheld and transferred to the year 2015.

(5)

Spain's 2014 unutilised mackerel fishing quota amounts to 5 652,891 tonnes. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1170 (5) already transferred 4 211,038 tonnes of that unutilised fishing quota to the year 2015. Hence, the remaining 2014 unutilised tonnage amounts to 1 441,853.

(6)

The request continues to be compatible with the rationale expressed in recital 7 of Regulation (EU) No 165/2011 justifying the spreading out of deductions over a period of five years or more.

(7)

The amount of 1 441,853 tonnes should be used to reschedule the deductions provided for in Regulation (EU) No 165/2011, as amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) No 978/2014. That quantity should be added to the amount to be deducted from the mackerel fishing quota for the year 2014, which should thus be increased from 5 989 to 7 430,853 tonnes, and simultaneously be subtracted from the amount to be deducted from the mackerel fishing quota for the year 2015, which should thus be reduced from 9 747 to 8 305,147 tonnes.

(8)

Regulation (EU) No 165/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly,