These Regulations are established pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 2; Article 10, paragraph 2; and Article 11, paragraph 3 of the Act for Distant Water Fisheries (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”).

Terms used in these Regulations are defined as follows:
(1) “Tuna longline fishing vessel” means any fishing vessel targeting highly migratory fish species such as tunas, billfishes, sharks, skipjacks or mahi mahi with longline fishing gears.
(2) “Fishing year” means the period starting from March 1 of the current year to the last day of February of the following year.
(3) “Independent third party” means any of the following institutions recognized by the competent authority:
i. For Japan:
(i) Shinken Corporation.
(ii) Nippon Kaiji Kentei Kyokai, Incorporated Association.
ii. For areas excluding Japan: the verifying institution which obtains the accreditation for management system certification from the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF).

Any distant water fisheries operator shall not conduct southern bluefin tuna fishing operation without authorization from the competent authority.

For the purpose of these Regulations, the species with catch limit as referred to in subparagraph (7) of Article 13, paragraph 1 of the Act means southern bluefin tuna.

Tuna longline tuna fishing vessels catching southern bluefin tuna (hereinafter referred to as “southern bluefin tuna fishing vessels”) are categorized into the following groups:
(1) Seasonal targeting group, which targets southern bluefin tuna and can be categorized into the following four groups:
i. Southcentral Indian Ocean group;
ii. Southwestern Indian Ocean group;
iii. Pacific Ocean group; and
iv. Domestic sale group: fishing vessels in this group shall ship back to the Republic of China a specific amount of southern bluefin tuna as promulgated by the competent authority for domestic sale.
(2) Bycatch group, which not targets southern bluefin tuna.

Fishing areas for fishing vessels of the seasonal targeting group are divided as follows and as shown in Appendix 1:
(1) For southcentral Indian Ocean group and domestic sale group: the area of the Indian Ocean south of 28°S, east of 65°E and west of 150°E (hereinafter referred to as “southcentral Indian Ocean fishing area”).
(2) For southwestern Indian Ocean group: the area of the Indian Ocean south of 28°S, and between 20°E and 45°E (hereinafter referred to as “southwestern Indian Ocean fishing area”).
(3) For Pacific Ocean group: the area of the Pacific Ocean west of 130°W, south of 10°S and east of 130°W, south of 15°S of the Pacific Ocean (hereinafter referred to as “Pacific Ocean fishing area”).
Any fishing vessel of the bycatch group shall only catch southern bluefin tuna in the fishing area pertained to its distant water fisheries permit of the Pacific, Atlantic or Indian Ocean respectively.

• Appendix 1 Fishing Areas.pdf

The number of vessels in each group shall be promulgated by the competent authority in accordance with the resolutions of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (hereinafter referred to as “the CCSBT”).