Seabird mitigation measures for longliners
1. All Union fishing vessels using longlines shall be subject to the seabird mitigation measures set out in this Article.
2. All Union fishing vessels using demersal longlines shall use line weights and tori (bird scaring) lines.
3. Union fishing vessels shall not set longlines during the hours of darkness.
4. Line weighting shall be rigged in accordance with Annex I.
5. Bird scaring lines shall be rigged in accordance with Annex II.
6. Union fishing vessels shall be prohibited from discharging offal during shooting and hauling. Where this is not feasible and when it is necessary to discharge biological waste due to operational safety concerns, vessels shall batch waste for two hours or longer.
Seabird mitigation measures for trawlers
1. All Union fishing vessels using trawl gear shall be subject to the seabird mitigation measures set out in this Article.
2. Union fishing vessels shall deploy two tori lines while fishing, or, if the operational practices prevent the effective deployment of tori lines, a bird baffler.
3. Bird bafflers shall be rigged in accordance with Annex III.
4. Where possible, Union fishing vessels shall be prohibited from discharging offal during shooting and hauling.
5. Where possible and appropriate, Union fishing vessels shall convert offal into fish meal and retain all waste material with any discharge restricted to liquid discharge/sump water. Where that is not possible and appropriate, fishing vessels shall batch waste for two hours or longer.
6. Where possible, nets shall be cleaned after every fishing operation to remove entangled fish and benthic material to discourage interactions with birds during gear deployment.
7. The time the net is on the water surface during hauling shall be minimised through proper maintenance of winches and good deck practices.
Seabird data reporting
In the annual scientific report referred to in point (b) of Article 7(2) Member States shall indicate:
(a)
the seabird mitigation measures used by each fishing vessel flying their flag and fishing in the SPRFMO Convention Area;
(b)
the level of observer coverage dedicated to recording seabird by-catch;
(c)
any observed seabird interaction data.
