Rules for access to certain Community fishing areas and resources

In order to permit the integration of Spain and Portugal into the common fisheries policy, the proposal for a regulation laid down for the first time identical conditions for access to regulated fishing areas for the vessels of all Member States. The new system of access would make it possible to establish in general more balanced, integrated and rational management of the fisheries sector in light of the natural limits imposed by the availability of fishery resources. The arrangements applied to all Community vessels regardless of flag and were limited to the areas and resources covered by the 1986 Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal and already subject to limited access. In the regulated zones, the Commission proposed regulating the fishing effort levels by basing them on the availability of fish agreed with each Member State. The levels would be calculated on the basis of the number of standard-vessel fishing days (SVD) that had been calculated according to a ratio determined by the quantity of resources available for each Member State. �