ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(77)306
Vol.1977/0103

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
^ ••
^ COM(77)306 final.
Brussels ,24June 1977 .
r
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL
concerning the proposal for aCouncil Regulation
(EEC)relating tocertain interim measures fortheconser­
vation and' management -ofcertain herring stocks ,
CQM(77 )306final .

COMMUNICATION TOTHE COUNCIL
Atthe^53rd meeting oftheCouncil ofl6MaytheCommission
submitted totheCouncil aproposal concerning theconservation
ofthestocks ofherring inwaters under thejurisdiction of
Member States (doc *COM (77)19*0 •
Inthe course ofthis session the Council decided tocontinue
thebanonherring fishing intheNorth Seaun^il June with the |
exception ofaspecific allocation totheNetherlands (1*300 tons);j
tobanherring fishing intheVest ofScotland region during Juns ,
and toreexamine I "bcforo theendof '•June themeasures propo­
sedbytheCommission forapplication from July *
Inthis context ,itisproposed totheCouncil toreexamine these
problems onthebasis oftheCommission proposal COM (77)19^
presented onthe16ofMay ,buttaking into account thelatest
available scientific advice .
This leads theCommission topropose the following amendments in
annex Itothis communication :
-reduction by**0%ofthequotas fortheWest ofScotland stock
(VIa)
-aban onfishing forherring within 12miles ofthe east coast
qfNorthern Ireland and Ireland between 53*20*Nand5^° '♦O1N
•aban onfishing forherring forseven weeks beginning onthe
1stofOctober 1977 ,intheparts oftheIrish Seawhere asimi­
larmeasure hasbeen applied bytheGovernment oftheUKan4of
theIsle ofManduring last year .
IntheNorth Sea ,continued fishing vn'11 I
have the effect ofdelaying for seve alyears anyreplenishment
ofthe stock and could even lead toits extinction .
Th<»ICES liaison Committee ,initslatest report ofMarch 1977 ,
stdtes that they "canonly reiterate ,even more strongly ,the
'advice given onprevious occasions that iftheNorth Seaherring
population istosurvive ,andbereturned to«condition inwhich h
I
itcansupport aviable fishery ,itisimperative that alldirected .:
fisheries onitareprohibited immediately •"
i ■

2-
The Commission must therefore maintain its proposal for azero
TAC forthe year 1977 asthesoientifio evidence claarly militates
infavour ofthat conolusion and does soalso •forth«year 1978 .
4.However ,the Commission isawajfe that acomplete ban onherring
fishing intheNorth Seafortherest of1977 wwjfor 1978 would
cause the industry very oeriouq problems inasituation ofgeneral
economio recession .
5.Anexamination bythe Commissiqn ofthe extent towhich the
problems ofthe processing industry could bemet byfacilitating
its access toherring from outtiide the Community ,towhich there is
noobstacle ,suggests that thepossibilities nevertheless are
extremely limited and the prospect ofsubstituting another species
forprocessing bytheherring industry such asmackerel seems inthe
short term tobeeconomically limited .Inview ofthis situation
the Commission considers that there should be Qcomplete ban on
direct fishing ofjuvenile herring inwaters coming under thefisheries
jurisdiction ofany member State ;the Commission also suggests
that the fishing industry should examine whether itispossible toreduction todivert herring nowused for/hwftan consumption ;efidthe CommisaiQn
considers that restrictions onby–oatohes should beincreased wh^re
this isfeasible .
6*These efforts ,including the supply tothe indust;ry ofcatches
from other than theNorth Sea (e.g. theBaltic Seii,Kattegat ,
Skagerak and West ofScotland ,eto.),will notsatisfy theneeds
ofthe industry which may claim that their needs pan only be
met bysome quota from the North Sea stock jbutthe Conuaission
must reply tothis that any catch from the North 15ea stock in1977
and 1978 will further endanger J.tssurvival andthat theresult in
the best ofcircumstances will beavery slow rebuilding ofthe
stock necessitating anextremely strict conservation and management
policy inthe coming years .Taking into consideration the catches
forthefirst half of1977 ,which are estimated a^j;about 32,500 tons
andthenecessity nottoopen upfishing toanextent which will
mean the extinction ofthe stool *:only very limited (juantitiea –of
the magnitude ofperhaps 15,000 tons –oould beenvisaged forthe
rest ofthe year *
•• •••

-3-
7*This Bmall quantity would need tobedivided not only among
member States but also aoong reciprocal countries inwhose waters
the Community has major fisheries interests .This would cause a
severe problem -aproblem which does notarise when there iszero
TAC asthird countries cannot reasonably allege discrimination
against them when alltraditional fishermen are unable tofish .
The amount left fordistribution among the member States ,taking
into aocount that about 6,000 tons isaninevitable by-catch
ofindustrial fishing ,would obviously bevirtually nil.
8*Thenetresult ,therefore ,ofany suggestion tomake possible a
catch fortherest ofthis year ofabout 15,000 tons iseither
toface aninsoluble problem ondistribution or,when inorder
tosolve that problem the authorised catch israised beyond such
afigure ,tobring about thedestruction ofthe North Seaherring
stock .
9*Table Ha annexed shows theresult ifsome allocation ismade
forall of1977 tomember States and reciprocal third countries
proportional toamodified NEAFC keyfor 1976 andbeginning from
the Danish minimal by-catch of15,000 tons .Thetotal inevitably
reaches about 84,000 tons fortheyea*;itneeds also tobenoted
that nofurther catch could beallocated tothe United Kingdom
which already has caught more than the 4f500 tons which would be,
onthis basis ,its quota forthe year 1977 *
10*Ifafurther table ismade beginning from apresumed catch for
theUnited Kingdom forthe whole year of 8,800 tons thetotal
figure based onthe same NEAFC key reaches about 125,000 tons *
 

Anm kxI
111 ■ ■"f
Amendments todoc«COM (77)194
I.insert thefollowing additional article
,; Article ••
•'V-'M
;1.Fishing forherring isprohibited from 1,7.1977 until 31.12.1977
within 12miles from thebasei line offtheeast coast ofNorthern
Ireland andIreland between 53° 20' Nar,<i 5^f ^O'N .
2.Pi.8hing forherring intheIrish Sea ,division VIIaaadefined
bjrICES ,isprohibited from 1.10,1977 until 19.11»1977 the
zone defined asfollows t
'V
•I*-- .
Waters round the Isle ofM^n ,and between the Isle ofMan and
the west coast oftheUnited Kingdom ,asdelimited byaline
running from CARMEI *HEAD(A^glesey )totheCHICKEN ROCK (Calf of
Man )lighthouse ,thence clockwise round theIsle ofMan ,(at
adistance of12miles from thebaseline ),asforasAYRE POINT
(Isle ofMan),thence eaotyard toSAINT BEE,S HEAD (United Kingdo
-$!• .Replace inAnnex Ithequota figures forthekpr^ing .West of
Scolflond (VIa)fcythefollowiJig s
Germany "": 3,7
Denmark : 0,2
Prance : 1,2
Ireland : 6,4
,y
Netherlands : 3»–
. United
Kingdom : 39»~

Ainn'.xi'j iiq
Results ofQuota calculation for Worth Sea Herring
for 1977 (Thousands ofTons )
based onallocating emannual quota of15000tons toDenmark
.(Modified NEAFC Key)
Country Quota 77
B
DK
D
F
NL
UK[0,7
15*2
3,8
4,5
6,2
4,5
EEC sub–Total 34,7
Faroes
Norway
Sweden
Iceland
Finland3,6
11,0
1,0
3,4
0,5
Third Country
Sub Total19,5
Overrun ofquotas
(estimated )10,0
Total for
zone IVand VII d64,2
Catches inSkagerrak
(additional )10 »-
Actual catches out ofNorth Sea
herring stock for zone IVand
VII dand III aNorthI
, Iv- ■-'■ ■
XIV/RN/23.06.1977

ANNEXE II "b
Results ofquota calculation for North Sea Herring
for1977 (Thousands ofTons )
"based ,onallocating anannual quota of8800tons toU.K.
(Modified NEAPC Key)
Country Quota 77
1.4
DK 29,5
D 7,4
P 8,8
NL 12,2
UK 8,8
EEC sub–Total 68,1
:
I Faroes 7,-
INorway j 21,6
i Sweden 2,1
i Iceland I 6,7
|Finland J0,9
Third Country
Sub–Total ■38,3
Total for
zone IVandVIId106,4
Çatches inSkagerrak
(additional ) .20,-
Actual catches out ofNorth Sea '
herring stock for zone IVand
VII dand III and NorthΠ
126,4
i
1 !I– I
XIV/RN/23.06.1977 . ί