COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1570/1999

of 12 July 1999

on the allocation of fishing possibilities for certain fish stocks and amending Regulation (EC) No 48/1999 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1999 and certain conditions under which they may be fished

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92 of 20 December 1992 establishing a Community system for fisheries and aquaculture(1), and in particular Article 8(4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 48/1999(2) fixes, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the TACs for 1998 and certain conditions under which they may be fished;

(2) In order to prevent overexploitation, it is desirable to set new TACs for 1999 in order to limit the catches of the stocks of spurdog and northern prawn in the North Sea; the shares of these TACs available to the Community should be allocated among Member States;

(3) In order to prevent overfishing, the Community fisheries for blue whiting in areas Vb (EC zone), VI and VII, and VIIIabd should be subject to allocation among Member States so as these fisheries are properly monitored;

(4) The abovementioned allocations should be made in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 8(4) of Regulation (EEC) No 3760/92;

(5) All or a great deal of the allowed catches in 1999 for all the abovementioned species is likely to have been taken at the time of adoption of this Regulation; it is therefore appropriate to exclude these catches from the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 of 6 May 1996 introducing additional conditions for year-to-year management of TACs and quotas(3);

(6) Within the framework of the bilateral consultations on the reciprocal fishing rights between the Community and Poland for 1999, the Community share for Baltic sprat has been modified;

(7) Regulation (EC) No 48/1999 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 48/1999 is hereby amended as follows:

1. in Annex I:

(a) the tables "Blue whiting in zone Vb (Community waters), VI, VII", "Blue whiting in zone VIIIabd" and "Sprat in zone IIIbcd (Community waters)" shall be replaced by the corresponding tables in Annex I to this Regulation;

(b) the table "Blue whiting in zone VIIIe" shall be deleted;

(c) the tables in Annex II to this Regulation relating to Northern prawn and spurdog shall be inserted;

2. in Annex III:

(a) the area "VIIIabd" corresponding to blue whiting shall be replaced by "VIIIabde";

(b) the entries corresponding to blue whiting in area VIIIe shall be deleted;

(c) the entries in Annex III to this Regulation relating to Northern prawn and spurdog shall be inserted.

Article 2

Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 847/96 shall not apply to landings of:

(a) spurdog in the North Sea (Community waters);

(b) northern prawn in the Northern Sea (Community waters);

(c) blue whiting in ICES division Vb (Community waters), sub-areas VI, VII, XII and XIV;

(d) blue whiting in ICES Division VIIabde.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 12 July 1999.

For the Council

The President

S. NIINISTÖ

(1) OJ L 389, 31.12.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 118/98 (OJ L 164, 9.6.1998, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 13, 18.1.1999, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 115, 9.5.1996, p. 3.

ANNEX I

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ANNEX II

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ANNEX III

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