22.12.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 328/9 COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2723/1999 of 17 December 1999 amending Regulation (EC) No 850/98 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament ('), Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas: (1) The area where, and the time-period during which, spawning of a certain herring stock has changed and therefore the special provisions relating to fishing in the said area and during the said time-period have also to be changed; 2)  Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 850/98 (*) contains a number of exemptions for the use of specific fishing gears; these exemptions should apply equally to the gear-type Danish seine; as on oversight, exemptions for this gear were not originally included in that Article; therefore, Danish seine should be included among the exemptions of Article 29; (3)  Article 33 of Regulation (EC) No 850/98 prohibits the use of purse seines on schools of fish found in associa- tion with marine mammals; such use would be accept- able in the case of fishing vessels operating under the conditions agreed within the Agreement for the Inter- national Dolphin Conservation Program, which the Community has decided to apply provisionally by Council Decision 1999/386/EC (*); therefore, an exemp- tion clause to that effect should be added to Article 33; (4)  Annex VI establishes categories of mesh sizes for fixed gears to be used for catching certain species or groups of species; in the light of data made available to the Commission, the mesh size categories for two species of spotted dogfish should be revised; (5)  Regulation (EC) No 805/98 should therefore be amended, (*) Opinion delivered on 2 December 1999 (not yet published in the Official Journal). ® 0] C 209, 27.7.1999. () O] L 125, 27.4.1998, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 14591999 (O] L 168, 3.7.1999, p. 1). (4 O] L 147, 12.6.1999, p. 23. HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Regulation (EC) No 850/98 is hereby amended as follows: 1. In Article 20(1), subparagraph (f) shall be replaced by the following: ‘f) (i) from 21 September to 15 November, within the part of ICES Division VIla bounded by the coast of the Isle of Man and straight lines drawn consecu- tively between the following coordinates: — latitude 54°20'00” N, longitude 04°25'05" W and latitude 54°20'00" N, longitude 03°57'02" W, — latitude 54°20'00” N, longitude 03°57'02" W and latitude 54°17'05" N, longitude 03°56'08” W, — latitude 54°17'05”" N, longitude 03°56'08" W and latitude 54°14'06" N, longitude 03°57'05" W, — latitude 54°14'06" N, longitude 03°57'05" W and latitude 54°00'00" N, longitude 04°07'05" W, — latitude 54°00'00” N, longitude 04°07'05" W and latitude 53°51'05" N, longitude 04°27'08" W, — latitude 53°51'05” N, longitude 04°27'08" W and latitude 53°48'00" N, longitude 04°50'00" W, — latitude 53°48'05" N, longitude 04°50'00" W and latitude 54°04'05" N, longitude 04°50'00" W; (ii) from 21 September to 31 December, within the part of ICES Division VIla bounded by the following coordinates: — the east coast of Northern Ireland at latitude 54°15" N, — latitude 54° 15’ N, longitude 5°15" W, — latitude 53°50" N, longitude 5°50" W, — the east coast of Ireland at latitude 53°50’ N;; 2. Article 29(4) shall be amended as follows: (a) In subparagraph (a), first indent, the words ‘shall be authorised to fish in the areas referred to in that para- graph using demersal otter trawls’ shall be replaced by: ‘shall be authorised to fish in the areas referred to in that paragraph using demersal otter trawls or Danish seine’.