The European Community and Norway have agreed to implement a Real Time Closure (RTC) system in the North Sea and Skagerrak. With effect from 1 September 2009 there will be a RTC scheme in place for juvenile cod, haddock, whiting and saithe. Please note changes have been made to the scheme as of 5 August 2011 (these changes have been made to the information below). See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:203:0007:0008:EN:PDF for more information. The scheme is independent from our current RTC scheme, though you will notice similarities. Closures shall apply equally to all vessels operating in the area.
The details are as follows:
- Closures shall be based only on information gathered during inspections at sea conducted by authorised inspectors and published on this website
- Fish below the following sizes shall be regarded as juveniles:
Cod 35 cm
Haddock 30 cm
Whiting 27 cm
Saithe 35 cm
- The trigger level shall be 10% by weight of the total of the four species, calculated from a 200 kg sample. However, if the quantity of cod exceeds 75% of the total, the trigger level shall be 7.5%.
- Samples shall only be taken when it is estimated that at least 200kg of cod, haddock, whiting and saithe are present in one haul.
- The area shall be closed to fishing for 21 days and automatically reopened at midnight UTC when the period has expired.
- Pelagic trawls, purse seines, driftnets and jiggers targeting herring, mackerel, horse mackerel, pots and scallop dredges may be used inside the area. Gillnets may be used if the mesh size is in accordance with technical regulations applicable in the fisheres for cod, haddock, whiting and saithe.
If you have any questions about the new the scheme, please contact Allan Gibb on 0131 244 4981.