Article 43(3) of the Treaty provides that the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, is to adopt measures on the fixing and allocation of fishing opportunities.

Council Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002 of 20 December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources under the Common Fisheries Policy1 requires that measures governing access to waters and resources and the sustainable pursuit of fishing activities be established taking into account available scientific advice and, in particular, the report drawn up by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).

It is incumbent upon the Council to adopt measures on the fixing and allocation of fishing opportunities by fishery or group of fisheries, including certain conditions functionally linked thereto, as appropriate. Fishing opportunities should be distributed among Member States in such a way as to assure each Member State relative stability of fishing activities for each stock or fishery and having due regard to the objectives of the common fisheries policy established in Regulation (EC) No 2371/2002.

The total allowable catch (TACs) should be established on the basis of the available scientific advice, taking into account biological and socioeconomic aspects whilst ensuring fair treatment between fishing sectors, as well as in the light of the opinions expressed during the consultation of stakeholders.

The use of fishing opportunities set out in this Regulation should be subject to Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 of 20 November 2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy2 and in particular to Articles 33 and 34 thereof concerning respectively the recording of catches and fishing effort and the notification of data on the exhaustion of fishing opportunities. It is therefore necessary to specify the codes to be used by the Member States when sending data to the Commission relating to landings of stocks subject to this Regulation.

In accordance with Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 847/96 of 6 May 1996 introducing additional conditions for year-to-year management of TACs and quotas3, the stocks that are subject to the various measures referred to therein must be identified.

In order to avoid interruption of fishing activities and to ensure the livelihood of Union fishermen, it is important to open these fisheries on 1 January 2013. For reasons of urgency, this Regulation should enter into force immediately after its publication,