Conservation of fishery resources: cod, stock recovery

PURPOSE : to establish measures for the recovery of cod stocks. LEGISLATIVE ACT : Council Regulation 423/2004/EC. CONTENT : The Council adopted a Regulation establishing measures seeking to ensure the recovery of cod stocks from the Kattegat, the North Sea, including the Skagerrak and the eastern Channel, to the west of Scotland and in the Irish Sea. The Regulation is based on a political agreement reached during the Council's meeting between 17 and 19 December. (Please refer to the previous document.) The Regulation states that the Total Allowable Catch (TACs) shall not exceed a level of catches which a scientific evaluation, carried out by the STECF, has indicated will result in an increase of 30 % in the quantities of mature fish in the sea at the end of the year of their application, compared to the quantities estimated to have been in the sea at the start of that year. The TACs will be complemented by a system of fishing effort limitation based on the geographical areas and groupings of fishing gear, and the associated conditions for the use of these fishing opportunities specified in Council Regulation 2287/2003/EC. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 16/03/04.�