Council Regulation (EC) No 43/2009Show full title

Article 63 Mitigation measures

1. All Community vessels fishing south of the parallel of latitude 30 degrees South shall carry and use bird-scaring lines (tori poles):

(a) tori poles shall comply with agreed tori pole design and deployment guidelines, as set out in Part II of Annex XIV;

(b) tori poles shall be deployed prior to longlines entering the water at all times south of the parallel of latitude 30 degrees South;

(c) where practical, vessels shall be encouraged to use a second tori pole and bird-scaring line at times of high bird abundance or activity;

(d) back-up tori lines shall be carried by all vessels and be ready for immediate use.

2. Longlines shall be set at night only (i.e. during the hours of darkness between the times of nautical twilight(1). During longline fishing at night, only the minimum ship's lights necessary for safety shall be used.

3. The dumping of offal shall be prohibited while gear is being shot or set. The dumping of offal during the hauling of gear shall be avoided. Any such discharge shall take place, where possible, on the opposite side of the vessel to that where the gear is being hauled. For vessels or fisheries where there is no requirement to retain offal on board the vessel, a system shall be implemented to remove fish hooks from offal and fish heads prior to discharge. Nets shall be cleaned prior to shooting to remove items that might attract seabirds.

4. Community vessels shall adopt shooting and hauling procedures that minimise the time during which the net is lying on the surface with the meshes slack. Net maintenance shall, to the extent possible, not be carried out with the net in the water.

5. Community vessels shall be encouraged to develop gear configurations that will minimise the likelihood of birds encountering the part of the net to which they are most vulnerable. This may include increasing the weighting or decreasing the buoyancy of the net so that it sinks faster, or placing coloured streamer or other devices over particular areas of the net where the mesh sizes create a particular danger to birds.

6. Community vessels which are so configured that they lack on-board processing facilities or adequate capacity to retain offal on-board, or the ability to discharge offal on the opposite side of the vessel to that where gear is being hauled, shall not be authorised to fish in the SEAFO Convention Area.

7. Every effort shall be made to ensure that birds captured alive during fishing operations are released alive and that whenever possible hooks are removed without jeopardising the life of the bird concerned.

(1)

The exact times of nautical twilight are set out in the Nautical Almanac tables for the relevant latitude, local time and date. All times, whether for ship operations or observer reporting, shall be referenced to GMT.