TITLE IIFISHING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNION FISHING VESSELS

CHAPTER IIIFishing opportunities in waters of regional fisheries management organisations

Section 8WCPFC Convention Area

Article 36Management of fishing with FADs

1

In the part of the WCPFC Convention Area located between 20° N and 20° S, it shall be prohibited for purse-seine vessels to deploy, service or set on FADs between 00:00 hours of 1 July 2019 and 24:00 hours of 30 September 2019.

2

In addition to the prohibition set in paragraph 1, it shall be prohibited to set on FADs on the high seas of the WCPFC Convention Area, between 20° N and 20° S, for an additional two months: either from 00:00 hours of 1 April 2019 to 24:00 hours of 31 May 2019, or from 00:00 hours of 1 November 2019 to 24:00 hours of 31 December 2019. The choice for the additional two months shall be notified to the Commission before 31 January 2019.

3

Member States shall ensure that each of its purse-seine vessels have deployed at sea, at any time, no more than 350 FADs with activated instrumented buoys. The buoy shall be activated exclusively onboard a vessel.

4

All purse-seine vessels fishing in the part of the WCPFC Convention Area referred to in paragraph 1 shall retain onboard and land or tranship all bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack tuna caught.

5

Paragraph 4 shall not apply in the following cases:

a

in the final set of a trip, if the vessel has insufficient well space left to accommodate all fish;

b

where the fish is unfit for human consumption for reasons other than size; or

c

when a serious malfunction of freezer equipment occurs.