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Tallinn 13 December 2012 No 213

opening of 2012 gillnets fishery in the lakes of Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva in

The order shall be issued on the basis of paragraph 19 (62) of the “Law on fishing”.

According to paragraph 14(4) and (6) of Decree No 135 of the Government of the Republic of Lämmi October 2011 entitled “opportunities for commercial fishing and permitted annual catches for 2012 under a fisherman's fishing licence for fishing in the lakes of Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva and in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Liste”, the authorised annual catches of latex under the fishing licence for the lakes of Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva are 614 tonnes and catches of perch are 160 tonnes
.
The Minister for Agriculture suspended fishing for Haug and latex in lakes Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva by order No 193 of 08 November 2012. According to the information provided by the Government of the Republic in accordance with the procedure laid down in Regulation No 104 of 31 March 2003, Lämmi “Procedure for the submission of data relating to fishing”, fishermen caught, on the basis of a fisherman's fishing licence in lakes Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva, 147.884 tonnes of Haug, that is to say 92.4% and 571.446 tonnes of lats, that is to say, 93.1% of the annual catches authorised by Regulation No 135 of the Government of the Republic for fishing activities in lakes Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva.
It is only 12,116 tonnes, that is to say 7,6%, and the latex quota is only 42,555 tonnes, that is to say 6,9%. In addition to the fish species mentioned above, a fixed quota of 72.714 tonnes, or 10.2%, a quota of 338.826 tonnes of redfish, or 24.2%, and a quota of 93.080 tonnes of shale, or 31%, still exist. The remaining quotas would make it possible to open up limited catches in the lakes of Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva in
.
For fishing activities carried out under a fishing authorisation of a fisherman, the main fishing gear in the lakes of Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva is traps, gillnets, framework nets and bottom seines, known as the mutant. Under paragraph 31(2)(2) and (3) of Decree No 144 of the Government of the Republic of 9 May 2003, entitled “fishing rules”, a distance of less than 1 km from the coast in the lakes of Peipsi and more than 500 m from the shore in the lakes of Läm and Pihkva is to be used for fishing with a gillnets which are prohibited from using a mesh size of less than 130 mm, except in the case of whitefish where a distance of more than 1 km from the shore is prohibited from using a mesh size of less than 96 mm. These mesh gillnets are high selectivity undersized fish
to a location smaller than the minimum sizes in Annex 5 to the fishing Regulation, Haug and lats shall not be caught in large quantities. Under paragraph 44(1)(3) and (4) of the Fisheries Regulations, by-catches of gillnets may be taken up to 8% of the undersized lats, the catches of the hatch and the site of the species concerned. It has allowed small quantities of undersized fish entering a gillnet to be removed, as it cannot be freed from the net as viable when fishing with a gillnet. Under paragraph 1(1)(1) of Decree No 71 of the Minister for the Environment of 22 December 2011, entitled “temporary cessations of fishing in the lakes of Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva in 2012”, fishing with gillnets in the waters 1 km wide from the coast of Lake Peipsi and in the waters 500 m wide from the banks of Läipsi and Pihkva in 2012 is prohibited from 1 September to 31 December
.
Scientists at the University of Tartu meresing Institute estimate the yield of traps at approximately 80% by weight to be made up of places of a size which, according to the rules in force since 1 November, are of a minimum size and whose release from traps as viable is questionable. It is therefore necessary that fishing with traps on the basis of a fisherman's fishing licence in lakes Peipsi, Lämmi and Pihkva be suspended. Fishing for Danish seines or mutants is prohibited from 1 November to 31 December under paragraph 3(1)(2) of Decree No 71 of the Minister for the Environment of 22 December 2011, entitled “temporary cessations of fishing in the lakes of Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva in 2012”.

1. I shall open fishing operations on the basis of a fisherman's fishing licence in Lake Peipsi beyond 1 km from the coast with a gillnet or framework network, and in Lake Läm and Pihkva beyond 500 m from the shore from 17 December 2012 until 31 December 2012 at the

2. The circular applies to persons fishing on the basis of a fisherman's fishing licence in lakes Peipsi, Läm and Pihkva from the day following publication of the circular in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

3. The circular shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

4. Order the publication of the circular in the Official Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture and on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture,
.

The order may be the subject of a complaint to an administrative court within 30 days of publication of the order in the Official Teadaanded of the European Communities, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Code of Administrative Procedure.


Send: Ministry of the Environment, environmental Inspectorate, Association of fishermen in the sub-basin of MTÜ Peipsi, Association of fishermen in MTÜ Peipsi, Division of Fisheries, Administration, Department of public relations.


Helir-Valdor Seeder