Establishment of management periods
13.—(1) Management periods for a Northern Ireland fishing boat, as referred to in point 6(b) of Annex IVc, shall be determined and notified by the person in charge of the boat, as follows:
(a)the base unit for determination of management periods shall be one month;
(b)each management period may be determined in multiples of the base unit from 1 to 11 calendar months; and
(c)the determination of each management period must be notified to the Department at the same time as any notification under Article 15;
and they are established by that determination and notification unless point 11 of Annex IVc applies to the boat, in which case they are established by confirmation of that determination and notification by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development taking that point into account.
(2) The person in charge of a Northern Ireland fishing boat may aggregate the days allocated for each calendar month as set out in point 6 of Annex IVc for being present within the area and absent from port, within management periods.
(3) Where a management period covers any of the first stage –
(a)a notification given to the Department (whether after or in anticipation of the coming into operation of this Order) covering a management period including all or any part of the first stage and any grouping of gears for the period shall be treated as meeting the requirement of paragraph (1)(c) but with the management period counting as the start of the second July stage and ending as notified; and
(b)the second July stage counts as one month and shall accordingly be treated as a single base unit.
(4) In paragraph (3) and Article 14(6) “the first stage” means the period starting with 1st February 2005 and ending immediately before the date on which this Order comes into operation and in paragraph (3) “the second July stage” means the remainder of July 2005.
(5) The person in charge of a Northern Ireland fishing boat which, at any time during the Annex IV year, is absent from port in the sole recovery zone carrying regulated gear for which a management period has not been established as provided in paragraph (1), is guilty of an offence.