(1)

The statement on outermost regions made jointly by the Council and the Commission during the Fisheries Council of 27 July 2006 (3) stresses the need for appropriate measures ensuring the sustainable development of the fisheries sector in those regions. Such measures are to take account of the specificities of fishing activities in the relevant areas. Furthermore, they are to be adopted in the light of the ongoing study on this topic and in the light of the assessment, by the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), of the state of fisheries resources in outermost regions.

(2)

Following that statement, France and Portugal have adopted development plans for Guadaloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and the Azores. An assessment of the effects of those plans on fisheries resources has been delivered by STECF during its plenary meeting of April 2007.

(3)

At the same time complementary information has been submitted to the Commission on proposed regularisations relating to an important number of vessels, which carried out fishing activities before 31 December 2006 and remained active in outermost regions without having been entered in the Community Fleet Register. Such regularisations are to be considered as an extension to the development plans.

(4)

The development plans contribute to the sustainable development of the fisheries sector in outermost regions. In this context the reference levels for some of the fleets registered in outermost regions should be reviewed. Commission Regulation (EC) No 2104/2004 (4) should therefore be amended accordingly.

(5)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture,