OBJECTIVE: to adopt Community measures determining the conditions for access to fisheries and
resources in the Baltic Sea following the accession of Sweden and Finland to the Community.
COMMUNITY MEASURE: Council Regulation (EC) No 779/97 introducing arrangements for the
management of fishing effort in the Baltic Sea.
SUBSTANCE: To ensure compliance with the Act of Accession of Finland and Sweden, which
provides for the introduction of transitional arrangements governing access to waters until the
implementation of a Community system of special fishing permits, the present regulation introduces
arrangements governing access to the fisheries and determines the conditions for access to the
fisheries and fish stocks in the Baltic Sea.
More specifically, the regulation provides for the termination of the transitional arrangements
governing access to the waters of the Baltic Sea by establishing arrangements for fishing effort in
the areas of the Baltic Sea falling under the sovereignty or within the jurisdiction of the Member
States.
These arrangements provide for the a posteriori monitoring by the Member States of the fishing
effort deployed by Community vessels in the fisheries concerned, mainly through:
-the defining, in the annex, of fisheries in the Baltic Sea in terms of target species and gear used
(except for pelagic species and salmon, for which any gear may be used),
-the preparation by the Member States of lists of named vessels flying their respective flags and
authorized to enter the fisheries (the lists must be sent to the Commission by 30 March 1997 at the
latest, then at regularly intervals when any changes are made; the Member States may replace the
vessels on these lists or include other vessels at a later date provided there are entitlements to fish),
-the issue of special fishing permits by the Member States to vessels flying their flag authorized to
fish in those fisheries,
-the amendment of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a control system applicable to the
common fisheries policy (scheduled for not later than 31 December 1997) and relating to the
recording of data on fishing effort in the logbook, the procedures for sending the lists of named
vessels to the Commission, the collection of data on fishing effort by the Member States and the
forwarding of the assembled data on fishing effort to the Commission.
The arrangements apply to vessels of more than 15 metres between perpendiculars or more than 18
metres overall. The fishing effort of vessels below this limit is assessed globally for each fishery.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: The regulation entered into force on 7 May 1997. The arrangements apply
from 1 January 1998.�