Chapter V, Section 1, Article 26 · Regulation (EU) 2023/2053

Contents

Article 26Lists and records of vessels#

1.Each year, 1 month before the start of the period of fishing authorisation, Member States shall submit to the Commission the following vessel lists:

(a)a list of all catching vessels fishing actively for bluefin tuna; and

(a)name and registry number of the vessel;

(b)a list of all other vessels engaged in bluefin tuna-related activities, other than catching vessels.

(b)specification of the type of vessel differentiating at least between catching vessels, towing vessels, auxiliary vessels, support vessels and processing vessels;

(c)length and gross registered tonnage (GRT) or, where possible, gross tonnage (GT);

(d)IMO number (where applicable);

(e)gear used (if any);

(f)previous flag (if any);

(g)previous name (if any);

(h)any previous details of deletion from other registers;

(i)international radio call sign (if any);

(j)name and addresses of owners and operators; and

(k)time period authorised for fishing, operating and transporting bluefin tuna for farming.

The period for submission of the vessel lists may be less than one month for the list of vessels in point (b) where the submission is due to changes in modality.Each vessel list shall include the following information:The Commission shall forward that information to the ICCAT Secretariat 15 days before the start of the fishing activity, so that the vessels included in those lists can be entered into the ICCAT record of authorised vessels and, if relevant, into the ICCAT record of vessels 20 metres in length overall or greater authorised to operate in the Convention Area.

2.During a calendar year, a fishing vessel may be included in both of the lists referred to in paragraph 1 provided that it is not included in both lists at the same time.

3.The information on vessels referred to in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 shall contain the vessel’s name and Union fleet register number (CFR) as defined in Annex I to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/218^note.

4.The Commission shall not accept any retroactive submission of the lists referred to in paragraph 1.

5.Subsequent changes to the lists referred to in paragraph 1 and to the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3, during a calendar year, shall only be accepted if a notified fishing vessel is prevented from participating in the fishery due to legitimate operational reasons or force majeure. In such circumstances, the Member State concerned shall without delay inform the Commission of that fact, and shall provide:

(a)full details of the fishing vessel or vessels intended to replace that vessel; and

(b)a comprehensive account of the reason justifying the replacement and any relevant supporting evidence or references.

6.The Commission shall, if necessary, modify during the year the information on the vessels referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, by providing updated information to the ICCAT Secretariat in accordance with Article 7(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2403.

Defined terms · 44

Show every defined term

auxiliary vessel
means any vessel used to transport dead bluefin tuna (not processed) from a transport or farming cage, a purse seine vessel or a trap to a designated port or to a processing vessel;
BCD
means a bluefin tuna catch document;
caging
means the relocation of live bluefin tuna in farms and their subsequent feeding aiming to fatten and increase their total biomass;
catching vessel
means a vessel used for the purposes of the commercial capture of bluefin tuna resources;
control caging
means a repetition of the caging operation being implemented at the request of the control authorities, for the purpose of verifying the number or the average weight of fish being caged;
control camera
means a stereoscopic camera or conventional video camera for the purpose of the controls pursuant to this Regulation;
control transfer
means the repetition of any transfer being implemented at the request of control authorities;
Convention Area
means the geographical area, as set out in Article I of the Convention;
CPC
means a Contracting Party to the Convention and a cooperating non-contracting party, entity or fishing entity;
donor operator
means the master, or the master’s representative, of the catching or towing vessel, or the operator, or the operator’s representative, of the farm or trap, from which, except in the case of voluntary and control transfers, a transfer operation originates;
eBCD
means an electronic bluefin tuna catch document;
farm
means a marine area, in one or more locations all of which are clearly defined by geographical coordinates with a clear definition of longitude and latitude for each one of the points of the polygon, used for the fattening or farming of bluefin tuna caught by traps or purse seine vessels;
fattening
means caging of bluefin tuna in farms and subsequently feeding aiming to fatten and increase their total biomass;
first transfer
means a transfer of live bluefin tuna from a purse seine or a trap to a transport cage;
fishing actively
means, for any catching vessel, the fact that it targets bluefin tuna during a given fishing season;
fishing effort
means the product of the capacity and the activity of a fishing vessel to measure the intensity of the fishing operations;
fishing vessel
means any powered vessel used for the purposes of the commercial exploitation of bluefin tuna resources, including catching vessels, processing vessels, support vessels, towing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment, transport vessels equipped for the transportation of tuna products and auxiliary vessels, except container vessels;
flag Member State
means the Member State where the fishing vessel is flagged;
further transfer
means any transfer that is conducted after the first transfer and before caging at the farm of destination, such as splitting or merging of the contents of two transport cages, with the exception of voluntary or control transfers;
gear group
means a group of fishing vessels using the same gear for which a group quota has been allocated;
harvesting
means the killing of bluefin tuna in farms or traps;
ICCAT
means the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas;
input farming capacity
means the maximum amount of wild bluefin tuna in tonnes that a farm is allowed to cage during a fishing season;
inter-farm transfer
means the relocation of live bluefin tuna from one farm to another farm composed of two phases, a transfer from the donor farm cage to a transport cage and a caging from the transport cage to the receiving farm cage;
joint fishing operation
means any operation between two or more purse seine vessels where the catch of one purse seine vessel is attributed to one or more purse seine vessels in accordance with a previously agreed allocation key;
large-scale pelagic longline vessel
means a pelagic longline vessel greater than 24 metres in length overall;
live bluefin tuna
means bluefin tuna that is kept alive for a certain period in a trap, or transferred alive to a farming installation, caged, farmed and finally harvested or released;
lost fish
means the missing bluefin tuna individuals that, after the potential differences detected during the investigation referred to in Article 50 of this Regulation, have not been justified as mortalities.
Member State of the donor operator
means the Member State that exercises its jurisdiction over the donor operator.
Member State responsible for the farm
means the Member State under whose jurisdiction the farm is located;
Member State responsible for the trap
means the Member States under whose jurisdiction the trap is located;
operator
means the natural or legal person who operates or holds any undertaking carrying out any of the activities related to any stage of production, processing, marketing, distribution and retail chains of fisheries and aquaculture products;
processing vessel
means a vessel on board of which fisheries products are subject to one or more of the following operations, prior to their packaging: filleting or slicing, freezing and/or processing;
purse seine
means any encircling net the bottom of which is drawn together by means of a purse line at the bottom of the net, which passes through a series of rings along the ground rope, enabling the net to be pursed and closed;
recreational fisheries
means non-commercial fishing activities exploiting marine biological resources for recreation, tourism or sport;
SCRS
means the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics of the ICCAT;
stereoscopic camera
means a camera with two or more lenses, with a separate image sensor or film frame for each lens, enabling the taking of three-dimensional images for the purpose of measuring the length of the fish;
support vessel
means any fishing vessel, other than a catching vessel, processing vessel, towing vessel, vessel engaged in transhipment, transport vessel equipped for the transportation of tuna products or auxiliary vessel, authorised to operate in the bluefin tuna fishery to perform support tasks;
the Convention
means the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas;
towing vessel
means any vessel used for towing live bluefin tuna cages;
transfer
means any transfer of:
transhipment
means the unloading of all or any of the fisheries products on board a fishing vessel to another fishing vessel;
trap
means fixed gear anchored to the bottom, usually containing a guide net that leads bluefin tuna into an enclosure or series of enclosures where it is kept prior to harvesting or farming;
voluntary transfer
means the repetition of any transfer being voluntarily implemented by the donor operator;