Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Added‘4. It shall be prohibited for all longline and purse seine vessels to catch, retain on board, tranship, store, land or offer for sale any cetacean (infraorder Cetacea) in whole or in part.’;

Added(5) in Article 24, point (c) is replaced by the following:

Added‘(c) fishing vessels flagged to non-contracting parties and operated by contracting parties under charter, lease or similar arrangements, which comply with the CMMs.’;

Added(6) in Article 37(1), point (d) is replaced by the following:

Added‘(d) safe handling and release of cetaceans.’ ;

Added(7) in Article 38(3), the following points are added:

Added‘(j) the progress with the implementation of this Regulation with respect to the conservation of cetaceans, including information collected on interactions with cetaceans in fisheries managed under the Convention;

Added(k) any by-catch of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis).’.

AddedArticle 6 Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2022/2343

AddedRegulation (EU) 2022/2343 is amended as follows:

Added(1) in Article 3, the following point is added:

Added‘(18) “Electronic Monitoring System” or “EMS” means an integrated system of hardware and software that supports the acquisition of video footages of fishing activity, positional and/or sensor data, that allows the analysis and reporting of electronic monitoring records.’;

Added(2) in Article 4, the following paragraphs are inserted:

Added‘1a. Union purse seine vessels shall not discard tropical tuna after the point in the fishing operation when the net is fully pursed and more than one half of the net has been retrieved. If equipment malfunctioning affects the process of pursing and retrieving the net in such a way that this rule cannot be complied with, the crew must make efforts to release the tuna and the non-targeted species as soon as possible.

Added1b. Union purse seine vessels shall, to the extent practicable, retain on board and land all catches of tuna other than those referred to in paragraph 1, rainbow runner, dolphinfish, triggerfish, billfish, wahoo, and barracuda, except fish that are unfit for human consumption.’;

Added(3) the following article is inserted:

Added‘Article 5a Voluntary fishing closure

Added1. Member States may decide to prohibit vessels flying their flag from fishing for bigeye, yellowfin and skipjack tuna in the Area for a minimum period of 31 consecutive days. Member States may exclude from that prohibition vessels of less than 12 metres in overall length fishing inside the EEZ of a Member State.

Added2. Member States which decide to implement the fishing closure referred to in paragraph 1 shall communicate the period chosen for the fishing closure to the Commission no later than 15 December of each year. The Commission shall send that information to the IOTC Secretariat no later than 31 December of each year.’;

Added(4) the following articles are inserted:

Added‘Article 8a Management of drifting FADs (DFADs)

Added1. Only purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels are allowed to deploy DFADs and instrumented buoys.

Added2. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall only deploy DFADs with an instrumented buoy that has been activated and registered in the DFAD register once the IOTC has implemented the DFAD register. The use of any other buoys, such as radio buoys, is prohibited.

Added3. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall only activate instrumented buoys when the buoys are physically present on board, and shall reactivate instrumented buoys only after they have been brought back to port and have been authorised by their flag Member States.

Added4. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall take all reasonable precautions to prevent accidental loss of DFADs and instrumented buoys, and shall be prohibited from deliberately discarding DFADs or associated instrumented buoys, except in cases of force majeure.

Added5. Before reporting the loss of a DFAD, purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall, as soon as possible, attempt to locate and retrieve such a lost DFAD.

Added6. When they retrieve an instrumented buoy attached to a DFAD, purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall not leave the DFAD in the sea without an active instrumented buoy.

Added7. Member States shall draw up a national management plan for the use of DFADs by their fishing vessels. The management plan shall follow the guidelines set out in Annex 2 - A.

Added8. Member States shall submit to the Commission the management plan referred to in paragraph 7, no later than 75 days before the IOTC annual meeting. This does not apply to Member States that have submitted their plan before … [the date of entry into force of this amending Regulation].

AddedAny subsequent amendments to the management plans shall be communicated to the Commission no later than 75 days before the ▌ IOTC annual meeting.

AddedArticle 8b Design and construction of DFADs

Added1. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall only use DFADs the design and construction of which comply with the following specifications as outlined as an example in Annex 3a:

Added(a) the use of mesh materials shall be prohibited for any part of a DFAD;

Added(b) only non-entangling material and designs shall be used; and

Added(c) the sub-surface structure shall be limited to a length of 50 metres.

Added2. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall:

Added(a) as of 1 January 2026, no longer deploy any DFADs of category V and shall only use DFADs of biodegradability categories I, II, III and IV, as defined in Annex 3b;

Added(b) as of 1 January 2027, use only DFADs of biodegradability categories I and II, as defined in Annex 3b; and

Added(c) as of 1 January 2029, use only DFADs of biodegradability category I, as defined in Annex 3b.

Added3. Instrumented buoys attached to a deployed DFAD shall be permanently and clearly marked with their unique reference number marking (ID provided by the manufacturer of the instrumented buoy) and the IOTC unique vessel identifier number.

Added4. ▌ DFADs shall be permanently marked with a specific IOTC DFAD unique identifier as provided by the IOTC Secretariat. That marking shall be separate from the marking of the instrumented buoy.

Added5. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels encountering DFADs that are not compliant with the requirements of design and construction under this Article shall, as far as practicable, immediately retrieve such DFADs from the water. Purse seine vessels and associated supply vessels shall report such cases to their flag Member States. Member States shall report the information to the Commission which shall in turn report it to the IOTC Secretariat.

Added6. Member States shall submit information concerning the status of implementation of biodegradable DFADs in accordance with Article 51(5).

AddedArticle 8c Reporting obligations for DFADs

Added1. Union fishing vessels shall record any fishing activities in association with a floating object (DFAD or log) and/or an instrumented buoy, from the deployment to the end of use, using the specific data elements set out in Annex 3 and the template provided by the IOTC Secretariat. Member States shall send that information to the Commission in accordance with Article 51(2).

Added2. Union fishing vessels shall submit annually the number of instrumented buoys assigned to them by the end of each calendar year, including instrumented buoys which have been lost, abandoned or discarded by 1° by 1° grid area and month strata and DFAD type to their flag Member State. That Member State shall send the information to the Commission. The Commission shall stratify the information by fleet, year, month and 1° by 1° grid, and express it as the average daily number of active instrumented buoys in each stratum, in accordance with Article 51(2).

Added3. Until the Commission notifies the Member States of the entry into force of the DFAD register, Member States shall ensure that their flagged vessels record in the appropriate logbook the date, time and geographical coordinates (decimal degrees) of deployment for each instrumented buoy, associated with its instrumented buoy unique reference number.

Added4. The owners of ▌ IOTC DFAD ▌ buoys shall insert the following information concerning the deployment of instrumented buoys, including for buoys deployed before the entry into force of the DFAD register and which are still active:

Added(a) the unique instrumented buoy reference number, that allows the identification of the owner of the buoy;

Added(b) the name of the owner of the instrumented buoy;

Added(c) the unique IOTC Record of Authorised Vessels number of the purse seiner that is assigned to the instrumented buoy;

Added(d) the Member State of the purse seine vessel to which the instrumented buoy is assigned;

Added(e) the manufacturer of the instrumented buoy;

Added(f) the model name of the instrumented buoy;

Added(g) the IOTC DFAD unique identifier, as provided by the IOTC Secretariat;

Added(h) the biodegradability category of the DFAD, or log when applicable, with which the buoy was deployed;

Added(i) the date and time of deployment;

Added(j) the location of deployment.

Added▌

Added5. The owner of the instrumented buoy shall notify, through the DFAD register and within 24 hours of activation, the IOTC Secretariat and its flag Member State when an instrumented buoy is activated, together with the IOTC DFAD unique identifier as provided by the IOTC Secretariat.