Sighting of vessels
Article 66a
1. Member States shall collect as much information as feasible, through inspection and surveillance operations conducted by their competent authorities in the ICCAT Convention area, when a Union fishing vessel, a third-country fishing vessel or a vessel without nationality is sighted in fishing or fishing-related activities (e.g. transhipment) that are presumed to be engaged in IUU fishing. 2. Member States shall collect information on vessel sightings in accordance with the sighting information sheet set out in the Annex to ICCAT Recommendation 19-09. 3. When a vessel is sighted pursuant to paragraph 1, the Member State concerned (‘sighting Member State’) shall without undue delay notify and provide any recorded images of the vessel to the appropriate authorities of the flag Member State or CPC or flag non-CPC of the sighted vessel, and: (a) if the sighted vessel is flagged to a Member State, the flag Member state shall, without undue delay, take appropriate action with respect to the vessel concerned; both the sighting Member State and the flag Member State of the sighted vessel shall provide information on the sighting to the Commission and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), including details of any follow-up action taken; (b) if the sighted vessel is flagged to another CPC, a non-CPC, or is of indeterminate flag or without nationality, the sighting Member State shall, without undue delay, provide to the Commission and the EFCA all appropriate information related to the sighting; the Commission shall, as appropriate, transmit the sighting information to the ICCAT Secretariat.