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Subject matter
This Regulation lays down management and conservation measures relating to fishing in the area covered by the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, to which the Union has acceded pursuant to Decision 2005/75/EC, and with respect to the species of fish under the purview of that Convention.
Scope
This Regulation applies to Union fishing vessels carrying out fishing in the Convention Area.
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: (1) ‘the Convention’ means the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, as amended from time to time; (2) ‘the Convention Area’ means the area to which the Convention applies as described in Article 3(1) thereof; (3) ‘WCPFC’ means the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission established under the Convention; (4) ‘Union fishing vessel’ means any vessel flying the flag of a Member State, used or intended for use for the purpose of fishing, including support ships, carrier vessels and any other vessel directly involved in such fishing; (5) ‘fishing’ means: (a) searching for, catching, taking or harvesting fish; (b) attempting to search for, catch, take or harvest fish; (c) engaging in any other activity which can reasonably be expected to result in the locating, catching, taking or harvesting of fish for any purpose; (d) placing, searching for or recovering fish aggregating devices or associated electronic equipment such as radio beacons; (e) any operations at sea directly in support of, or in preparation for, any activity described in points (a) to (d), including transhipment; or (f) use of any vessel, vehicle, aircraft or hovercraft, for any activity described in points (a) to (d), except for emergencies involving the health and safety of the crew or the safety of a vessel; (6) ‘CMM’ means the applicable Conservation and Management Measures adopted by the WCPFC; (7) ‘fishing opportunities’ means fishing quotas, fishing effort allocated to a Member State or closure periods, as provided for in a Union legal act in force for the Convention Area; (8) ‘unfit for human consumption’: (a) means, but is not limited to, fish that: (i) is meshed or crushed in the purse seine net; (ii) is damaged due to shark or whale depredation; or (iii) has died and spoiled in the net where a gear failure has prevented both the normal retrieval of the net and catch as well as efforts to release the fish alive; and (b) does not include fish that: (i) is considered undesirable in terms of size, marketability or species composition; or (ii) is spoiled or contaminated as the result of an act or omission of the crew of the fishing vessel. (9) ‘fish aggregating device‘ or ‘FAD’ means any object or group of objects, of any size, that has or has not been deployed, that is living or non-living, including, but not limited to, buoys, floats, netting, webbing, plastics, bamboo, logs and whale sharks floating on or near the surface of the water that fish may associate with; (10) ‘shallow-set’ means fisheries in which the majority of hooks are set at a depth shallower than 100 metres; (11) ‘Record’ means the WCPFC Record of Fishing Vessels; (12) ‘WIN’ means the WCPFC identification number; (13) ‘VMS’ means a Vessel Monitoring System; (14) ‘ROP’ means the Regional Observer Programme established by the WCPFC to collect verified catch data, other scientific data and additional information related to the fishery in the Convention Area, and to monitor the implementation of the CMMs; (15) ‘instrumented buoy’ is a buoy with a clearly marked reference number allowing it to be identified and which is equipped with a satellite-tracking system to monitor its position; (16) ‘data buoy’ is a floating device, either drifting or anchored, that is deployed by governmental or recognised scientific organisations or entities for the purpose of electronically collecting and measuring environmental data, and not for the purpose of fishing activities; (17) ‘WCPFC Transhipment Declaration’ means a document containing the information set out in Annex IV; (18) ‘Eastern High Seas Pocket’ means the area of high seas bounded by the Exclusive Economic Zones of the Cook Islands to the west, French Polynesia to the east and Kiribati to the north with the geographical coordinates and as shown on the map set out in Annex V; (19) ‘mobulid rays’ means species of the family Mobulidae , which includes manta rays and mobula rays; (20) ‘automatic location communicator’ or ‘ALC’ means a near real-time satellite position fixing transmitter; (21) ‘discards’ means catches that are returned to the sea; (22) ‘authorised inspector’ means an inspector of a contracting party to the Convention whose identity has been communicated to the WCPFC; (23) ‘authorised Union inspector’ means a Union inspector whose identity has been communicated to the WCPFC in accordance with any act adopted pursuant to Article 79(7) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 ( 12 ) .
Authorisations
1. Member States shall manage the number of authorisations to fish and the level of fishing in accordance with the fishing opportunities. 2. Each authorisation shall set out for the Union fishing vessel for which it is issued: (a) the specific areas, species and time periods for which the authorisation is valid; (b) the activities which the Union fishing vessel is permitted to carry out; (c) a prohibition on fishing, retention on board, transhipment or landing by the Union fishing vessel in areas under the jurisdiction of another State except pursuant to any licence, permit or authorisation that is required by such other State; (d) a requirement that the Union fishing vessel keeps on board the authorisation issued pursuant to this paragraph, or a certified copy thereof, and any licence, permit or authorisation, or a certified copy thereof, issued by a coastal State, as well as a valid certificate of vessel registration.
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