Council Regulation (EC) No 676/2007 of 11 June 2007 establishing a multi-annual plan for fisheries exploiting stocks of plaice and sole in the North Sea sets out the rules for the sustainable exploitation of the stocks of plaice and sole in the North Sea.

The Union has acceded to the following instruments, establishing regional organisations, whose activities are also covered by the Agency’s objectives: the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (Helsinki Convention as revised in 1992) (10); the Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (Barcelona Convention) (11), and its 1995 revision (12) and to a number of protocols thereto; the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement) (13); the Convention for the protection of the marine environment ...[+++] of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) (14); the Cooperation Agreement for the protection of the coasts and waters of the north-east Atlantic against pollution, signed on 17 October 1990 (Lisbon Agreement) (15), with the Additional Protocol thereto, signed on 20 May 2008, which have not yet entered into force (16).

Consequently, the TACs for stocks of sole in the North Sea, of plaice in the North Sea, of cod in the North Sea, Skagerrak and the eastern Channel, and of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean should be established in accordance with the rules laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 676/2007 of 11 June 2007 establishing a multiannual plan for fisheries exploiting stocks of plaice and sole in the North Sea (4); Council Regulation (EC) No 1342/2008 of 18 December 2008 establishing a long-term plan for cod stocks and the fisheries exploiting those stocks (5) (the ‘Cod Plan’); and Council Regulation (EC) No 302/2009 of ...[+++] 6 April 2009 concerning a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (6).

stresses that the North Sea Commission (NSC), one of the geographical commissions of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), is an important partner that works for better cooperation in the North Sea area and has already come up with ideas for a strategy for the North Sea-Channel area.

notes that the North Sea-Channel area comprises the marine area of the North Sea and the passages to the Baltic Sea (Skagerrak and Kattegat), to the Atlantic (English Channel) and to the Norwegian Sea, as well as the coastal regions that surround it to the extent that they are directly or indirectly connected with the sea, influence it or are influenced by it.

points out the high degree of convergence between these key planks and issues in the North Sea-Channel area strategy and the goals and guidelines of the Europa 2020 strategy. It sees this as an excellent premise for cross-pollination between the strategic ambitions at EU level and intensive crossborder and transnational cooperation in a specific macroregion comprising countries bordering the North Sea and English Channel;