Brussels, 13/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 July, the Community Fisheries Control Agency adopted a plan for joint multi-national fishery controls, which will pool member states' resources (inspectors, vessels and planes) to ensure that fishing activities are being carried on correctly. This first joint deployment plan aims to ensure that fishermen abide by the cod recovery plans in the waters of the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat and the Eastern Channel. Seven member states are involved: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Control activities, which could last until the end of the year, will focus on vessels using gear types that are likely to catch cod, either as a targeted fishery or as a by-catch. There will also be inspections of the transport and marketing of cod. The inspection teams will be mixed, and the inspection vessels and surveillance aircraft will be pooled from different member states. Inspection vessels will be able to enter the fishing zones of other member states. The next joint deployment plans will relate to the cod fishery in the Baltic Sea and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Temporarily located in offices in Brussels, the Agency intends to recruit 38 staff by the end of the year. It will then move to its permanent base in Vigo, Spain. (lc)