Subject matter
Article 1
This Regulation lays down management, conservation and control provisions relating to fishing for straddling fish stocks in the SPRFMO Convention Area.
Regulation (EU) 2018/975 TITLE I — GENERAL PROVISIONS
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Scope
Article 2
This Regulation shall apply to: (a) Union fishing vessels operating in the SPRFMO Convention Area; (b) Union fishing vessels transhipping fishery products harvested in the SPRFMO Convention Area; (c) third country fishing vessels upon requesting access to, or being the object of an inspection in, Union ports and carrying fishery products harvested in the SPRFMO Convention Area.
Relationship to other Union acts
Article 3
Except where expressly provided otherwise in this Regulation, this Regulation shall apply without prejudice to Regulations (EC) No 1005/2008, (EC) No 1224/2009 and (EU) 2017/2403.
Definitions
Article 4
For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (1) ‘SPRFMO Convention Area’ means the geographical area marked out in Article 5 of the SPRFMO Convention; (2) ‘fishing vessel’ means any vessel of any size used or intended for use for the purposes of commercial exploitation of fishery resources, including support ships, fish processing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and carrier vessels equipped for the transportation of fishery products, except container vessels; (3) ‘Union fishing vessel’ means a fishing vessel flying the flag of a Member State and registered in the Union; (4) ‘SPRFMO fishery resources’ means all marine biological resources within the SPRFMO Convention Area excluding: (a) sedentary species in so far as they are subject to the national jurisdiction of coastal States pursuant to Article 77, paragraph 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (‘UNCLOS’); (b) highly migratory species listed in Annex I to UNCLOS; (c) anadromous and catadromous species; (d) marine mammals, marine reptiles and sea birds; (5) ‘SPRFMO fishery products’ means aquatic organisms, or products derived therefrom, resulting from any fishing activity within the SPRFMO Convention Area; (6) ‘fishing activity’ means searching for fish, shooting, setting, towing, hauling of a fishing gear, taking catch on board, transhipping, retaining on board, processing on board, transferring and landing of fish and fishery products; (7) ‘bottom fishing’ means the fishing by any fishing vessel using any gear which is likely to come in contact with the seafloor or benthic organisms during the normal course of operations; (8) ‘bottom fishing footprint’ means the spatial extent of bottom fishing in the SPRFMO Convention Area during the period 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2006; (9) ‘IUU fishing’ means any illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing activities as defined in points 1 to 4 of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008; (10) ‘draft SPRFMO IUU vessel list’ means the initial list of fishing vessels presumed to have undertaken IUU fishing, as drafted by the SPRFMO Secretariat and submitted to the SPRFMO Compliance and Technical Committee forconsideration; (11) ‘exploratory fishery’ means a fishery that has not been subject to fishing or has not been subject to fishing with a particular gear type or technique in the previous 10 years; (12) ‘large-scale pelagic driftnet’ means a gillnet or other net, or a combination of nets, which is more than 2,5 kilometres in length the purpose of which is to enmesh, entrap or entangle fish by drifting on the surface or in the water; (13) ‘deepwater gillnets’ e.g. trammel nets, set nets, anchored nets, sink nets, means strings of single, double or triple netting walls, held vertically, on or near the bottom, in which fish will gill, entangle or enmesh. Deepwater gillnets consist of single or, less commonly, double or triple netting mounted together on the same frame ropes. Several types of nets may be combined in one gear. Those nets can be used either alone or, as is more usual, in large numbers placed in line (‘fleets’ of nets). The gear can be set, anchored to the bottom or left drifting, free or connected with the vessel; (14) ‘SPRFMO Cooperating Non-Contracting Party’ (CNCP) means a State or fishing entity that it is not a party to the SPRFMO Convention but has agreed to fully cooperate in the implementation of the SPRFMO conservation and management measures; (15) ‘SPRFMO record of vessels’ means the list of fishing vessels authorised to fish in the SPRFMO Convention Area, as notified by the Contracting Parties and CNCPs, which is maintained by the SPRFMO Secretariat; (16) ‘transhipment’ means the unloading of all or any fishery products on board a fishing vessel to another fishing vessel; (17) ‘other species of concern’ means species listed in Annex XIII; (18) ‘vulnerable marine ecosystem’ (VME) means any marine ecosystem the integrity (i.e. ecosystem structure or function) of which is, according to the best scientific information available and to the precautionary principle, threatened by significant adverse impacts resulting from physical contact with bottom gears in the normal course of fishing operations, including reefs, seamounts, hydrothermal vents, cold water corals or cold water sponge beds.
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