CHAPTER VII

SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR COMMUNITY VESSELS FISHING IN THE AREA OF CCAMLR
SECTION 2

Exploratory fisheries

Participation in exploratory fisheries
Article 46
1
Fishing vessels flying the flag of and registered in Spain that have been notified to CCAMLR in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 601/2004 may participate in long-line exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus spp. in Sub-area FAO 88.1, and in Divisions 58.4.1, 58.4.2, 58.4.3a) outside Areas of national jurisdiction and 58.4.3b) outside Areas of national jurisdiction.
2
No more than one fishing vessel shall fish in Divisions 58.4.3a) and 58.4.3b) at any one time.
3
With regard to Sub-area 88.1 and Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2, total catch and by-catch limits per Sub-area and Division, and their distribution among Small Scale Research Units (SSRUs) within each of them are set out in Annex XV. Fishing in any SSRU shall cease when the reported catch reaches the specified catch limit and that SSRU shall be closed to fishing for the remainder of the season.
4
Fishing shall take place over as large a geographical and bathymetric range as possible to obtain the information necessary to determine fishery potential and to avoid over-concentration of catch and fishing effort. However, fishing in Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 will be prohibited in depths less than 550 m.

Reporting systems
Article 47
Fishing vessels participating in the exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall be subject to the following catch and effort reporting systems:
1. the Five-day Catch and Effort Reporting System set out in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 601/2004, with the exception that Member States shall submit to the Commission catch and effort reports not later than two working days after the end of each reporting period, for immediate transmission to CCAMLR. In Sub-area 88.1 and in Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.42, reporting will be made by Small Scale Research Units;
2. the Monthly fine-scale Catch and Effort Reporting System set out in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 601/2004;
3. the total number and weight of Dissostichus eleginoides and Dissostichus mawsoni discarded, including those with the ‘jellymeat’ condition, shall be reported.

Special requirements
Article 48
1
The exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall be carried out in accordance with Article 8 of Council Regulation (EC) No 600/2004 of 22 March 2004 laying down certain technical measures applicable to fishing activities in the area covered by the Convention on the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources with regard to applicable measures to reduce the incidental mortality of seabirds in the course of long-line fisheries. In addition to these measures:
a
the discharge of offal shall be prohibited in these fisheries;
b
vessels participating in exploratory fisheries in Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 which comply with CCAMLR Protocols (A, B or C) for longline weighting shall be exempted from the night setting requirement; however, vessels which catch a total of three (3) seabird shall immediately revert to night setting in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 601/2004;
c
vessels participating in exploratory fisheries in Sub-area 88.1 and Divisions 58.4.3a) and 58.4.3b) which catch a total of three (3) seabirds shall cease fishing immediately and shall not be permitted to fish outside the normal fishing season for the remainder of the 2004/2005 season.
2
Fishing vessels participating in exploratory fisheries in FAO Sub-area 88.1 shall be subject to the following additional requirements:
a
vessels shall be prohibited from discharging:
1. oil or fuel products or oily residues into the sea, except as permitted in Annex I to MARPOL 73/78 (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships);
2. garbage;
3. food wastes not capable of passing through a screen with openings no greater than 25 mm;
4. poultry or parts (including egg shells);
5. sewage within 12 nautical miles of land or ice shelves, or sewage while the ship is travelling at a speed of less than 4 knots; or
6. incineration ash.
b
no live poultry or other living birds shall be brought into Sub-area 88.1 and any dressed poultry not consumed shall be removed from Sub-area 88.1;
c
fishing for Dissostichus spp. in Sub-area 88.1 shall be prohibited within 10 nautical miles of the coast of the Balleny Islands.

Definition of hauls
Article 49
1
For the purposes of this Section, a haul comprises the setting of one or more lines in a single location. The precise geographic position of a haul shall be determined by the centre-point of the line or lines deployed for the purposes of catch and effort reporting.
2
To be designated as a research haul:
a
each research haul shall be separated by no less than 5 nautical miles from any other research haul, distance to be measured from the geographical mid-point of each research haul;
b
each haul shall comprise at least 3 500 hooks and no more than 10 000 hooks; this may comprise a number of separate lines set in the same location;
c
each haul of a longline shall have a soak time of not less than six hours, measured from the time of completion of the setting process to the beginning of the hauling process.

Research plans
Article 50
Fishing vessels participating in the exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall implement Research Plans, in each and all SSRUs in which FAO Sub-area 88.1 and Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 are divided. The Research Plan shall be implemented in the following manner:
1. on first entry into a SSRU, the first 10 hauls, designated ‘first series’, shall be designated ‘research hauls’ and must satisfy the criteria set out in Article 49(2);
2. the next 10 hauls, or 10 tonnes of catch, whichever trigger level is achieved first, are designated the ‘second series’. Hauls in the second series can, at the discretion of the master, be fished as part of normal exploratory fishing. However, provided they satisfy the requirements of Article 49(2), these hauls can also be designated as research hauls;
3. on completion of the first and second series of hauls, if the master wishes to continue to fish within the SSRU, the vessel must undertake a ‘third series’ which shall result in a total of 20 research hauls being made in all three series. The third series of hauls shall be completed during the same visit as the first and the second series in a SSRU;
4. on completion of 20 research hauls of the third series, the vessel may continue to fish within the SSRU;
5. in SSRUs A, B, C, E and G in Sub-area 88.1 where fishable seabed area is less than 15 000 km2, points (b), (c) and (d) shall not apply and on completion of 10 research hauls the vessel may continue to fish within the SSRU.

Data collection plans
Article 51
1
Fishing vessels participating in the exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall implement Data Collection Plans, in each and all SSRUs in which FAO Sub-area 88.1 and Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 are divided. The Data Collection Plan shall comprise the following data:
a
the position and sea depth at each end of every line in a haul;
b
the setting, soak, and hauling times;
c
the number and species of fish lost at surface;
d
the number of hooks set;
e
the bait type;
f
the baiting success (%);
g
the hook type; and
h
the sea and cloud conditions and phase of the moon at the time of setting the lines.
2
All data referred to under paragraph 1 shall be collected for every research haul; in particular, all fish in a research haul up to 100 fish are to be measured and at least 30 fish sampled for biological studies. Where more than 100 fish are caught, a method for randomly subsampling the fish shall be applied.

Tagging programme
Article 52
Each fishing vessel participating in the exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall implement a tagging programme as follows:
1. Dissostichus spp. individuals shall be tagged and released at a rate of one individual per tonne of green weight catch throughout the season according to the CCAMLR Tagging Protocol. Vessels shall only discontinue tagging after they have tagged 500 individuals, or leave the fishery having tagged one individual per tonne of green weight caught;
2. the programme shall target individuals of all sizes in order to meet the tagging requirement of one individual per one tonne of green weight catch. All released individuals shall be double-tagged and releases shall cover as broad a geographical area as possible;
3. all tags shall be clearly imprinted with a unique serial number and a return address so that the origin of tags can be retraced in the case of recapture of the tagged individual;
4. all recaptured tagged individuals (i.e. fish caught that have a previously inserted tag) shall not be re-released, even if it was at liberty for only a short period;
5. all recaptured tagged individuals shall be biologically sampled (length, weight, sex, gonad stage), an electronic photograph taken if possible, the otoliths recovered and the tag removed;
6. all relevant tag data and any data recording tag recaptures shall be reported electronically in the CCAMLR format to CCAMLR within three months of the vessel departing these fisheries;
7. all relevant tag data, any data recording tag recaptures, and specimens from recaptures shall also be reported electronically in the CCAMLR format to the relevant regional tag data repository as detailed in the CCAMLR Tagging Protocol.

Scientific observers
Article 53
Each fishing vessel participating in the exploratory fisheries referred to in Article 46 shall have at least two scientific observers, one of which shall be an observer appointed in accordance with the CCAMLR Scheme of International Scientific Observation, on board throughout all fishing activities within the fishing period.
OJ L 97, 1.4.2004, p. 1.