Council Regulation (EC) No 41/2007Show full title

[F1 Part IV U.K. ICCAT scheme of joint international inspection

The ICCAT Commission agreed at its Fourth Regular Meeting (Madrid, November 1975) that:

Pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article IX of the Convention, the ICCAT Commission recommends the establishment of the following arrangements for international control outside the waters under national jurisdiction for the purpose of ensuring the application of the Convention and the measures in force thereunder:

1.

Control shall be carried out by inspectors of the fishery control services of Contracting Governments. The names of the inspectors appointed for that purpose by their respective governments shall be notified to the Commission.

2.

Ships carrying inspectors shall fly a special flag or pennant approved by the ICCAT Commission to indicate that the inspector is carrying out international inspection duties. The names of the ships so used for the time being, which may be either special inspection vessels or fishing vessels, shall be notified to the ICCAT Commission, as soon as may be practical.

3.

Each inspector shall carry a document of identify supplied by the authorities of the flag State in a form approved by the ICCAT Commission and given him on appointment stating that he has authority to act under arrangements approved by the ICCAT Commission.

4.

Subject to the arrangements agreed under paragraph 9, a vessel employed for the time being in fishing for tuna or tuna-like fishes in the Convention Area outside the waters under national jurisdiction shall stop when given the appropriate signal in the International Code of Signals by a ship carrying an inspector unless actually carrying out fishing operations, in which case it shall stop immediately once it has finished such operations. The master (1) of the vessel shall permit the inspector, who may be accompanied by a witness, to board it. The master shall enable the inspector to make such examination of catch or gear and any relevant documents as the inspector deems necessary to verify the observance of the ICCAT Commission's recommendations in force in relation to the flag State of the vessel concerned and the inspector may ask for any explanations that he deems necessary.

5.

On boarding the vessel an inspector shall produce the document described in 3. Inspections shall be made so that the vessel suffers the minimum interference and inconvenience and that degradation of the quality of the fish be avoided. An inspector shall limit his enquiries to the ascertainment of the facts in relation to the observance of the ICCAT Commission's recommendations in force in relation to the flag State of the vessel concerned. In making his examination an inspector may ask the master for any assistance he may require. He shall draw up a report of his inspection in a form approved by the ICCAT Commission. He shall sign the report in the presence of the master of the vessel who shall be entitled to add or have added to the report any observations which he may think suitable and must sign such observations. Copies of the report shall be given to the master of the vessel and to the inspector's government who shall transmit copies to the appropriate authorities of the flag State of the vessel and to the ICCAT Commission. Where any infringement of the recommendations is discovered the inspector should, where possible, also inform the competent authorities of the flag State, as notified to the ICCAT Commission, and any inspection ship of the flag State known to be in the vicinity.

6.

Resistance to an inspector or failure to comply with his directions shall be treated by the flag State of the vessel in a manner similar to resistance to any inspector of that State or a failure to comply with his directions.

7.

Inspectors shall carry out their duties under these arrangements in accordance with the rules set out in this recommendation but they shall remain under the operational control of their national authorities and shall be responsible to them.

8.

Contracting Governments shall consider and act on reports of foreign inspectors under these arrangements on a similar basis in accordance with their national legislation to the reports of national inspectors. The provisions of this paragraph shall not impose any obligation on a Contracting Government to give the report of a foreign inspector a higher evidential value than it would possess in the inspector's own country. Contracting Governments shall collaborate in order to facilitate judicial or other proceedings arising from a report of an inspector under these arrangements.

9.

(i)

Contracting Governments shall inform the ICCAT Commission by the 1st of March each year of their provisional plans for participation in these arrangements in the following year and the ICCAT Commission may make suggestions to Contracting Governments for the coordination of national operations in this field including the number of inspectors and ships carrying inspectors;

(ii)

The arrangements set out in this recommendation and the plans for participation shall apply between Contracting Governments unless otherwise agreed between them; and such agreement shall be notified to the ICCAT Commission: Provided however, that implementation of the scheme shall be suspended between any two Contracting Governments if either of them has notified the ICCAT Commission to that effect, pending completion of an agreement.

10.

(i)

The fishing gear shall be inspected in accordance with the regulations in force for the subarea in which the inspection takes place. The inspector will state the nature of this violation in this report.

(ii)

Inspectors shall have the authority to inspect all fishing gear in use or that fishing gear on deck ready for use.

11.

The inspector shall affix an identification mark approved by the ICCAT Commission to any fishing gear inspected which appears to be in contravention of the ICCAT Commission's recommendations in force in relation to the flag State of the vessel concerned and shall record this fact in his report.

12.

The inspector may photograph the gear in such a way as to reveal those features which in his opinion are not in conformity with the regulation in force, in which case the subjects photographed should be listed in the report and copies of the photographs should be attached to the copy of the report to the flag State.

13.

The inspector shall have authority, subject to any limitations imposed by the ICCAT Commission, to examine the characteristics of catches, to establish whether the ICCAT Commission's recommendations are being complied with. He shall report his findings to the authorities of the flag State of the inspected vessel as soon as possible. (Biennial Report 1974-75, Part II).]

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Council Regulation (EC) No 643/2007 of 11 June 2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 41/2007 as concerns the recovery plan for bluefin tuna recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.

(1)

[F1 Master refers to the individual in charge of the vessel.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Inserted by Council Regulation (EC) No 643/2007 of 11 June 2007 amending Regulation (EC) No 41/2007 as concerns the recovery plan for bluefin tuna recommended by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.