These Regulations are hereby established pursuant to Article 6, paragraph 2; Article 10, paragraph 2; Article 11, paragraph 3; and Article 24, paragraph 2 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) “Indian Ocean” means the waters of the Indian Ocean bounded by the following line: from the south coast of South Africa due south along the 20°E to its intersection with the 45°S; thence due east along the 45°S to its intersection with the 80°E; thence due south along the 80°E to its intersection with the 55°S; thence due east along the 55°S to its intersection with the 150°E; thence due north along the 150°E to its intersection with the coast of Australia; thence in a westerly direction round the south, the west and the northwest coasts of Australia to a point at 129°E; thence due north along the 129°E to its intersection with 8°S; thence due west along the 8°S to its intersection with 113°28'E; thence due north alone with the 113°28'E to the south coast of Java at 8°23'S; thence in a westerly direction along the coasts of Java and Sumatra; thence round the coast of Sumatra running south in the Strait of Malacca; thence across the Strait at 2°30'N to meet the coast of Malay Peninsula; thence due north along the 2°30'N of the west coast of Malay Peninsula; thence along the coasts to the intersection between the south coast of South Africa and 20°E. The area is as shown in Appendix 1.
(3) “Area of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement” (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement Area”) means the area bounded by a line joining the following points, excluding waters under national jurisdiction: commencing at the landfall on the continent of Africa of the parallel of 10°N; from there east along that parallel to its intersection with meridian of 65°E; from there south along that meridian to its intersection with the equator; from there east along the equator to its intersection with the meridian of 80°E; from there south along that meridian to its intersection with the parallel of 20°S; from there east along that parallel to its landfall on the continent of Australia; from there south and then east along the coast of Australia to its intersection with the meridian of 120°E; from there south along that meridian to its intersection with the parallel of 55°S; from there west along that parallel to its intersection with the meridian of 80°E; from there north along that meridian to its intersection with the parallel of 45°S; from there west along that parallel to its intersection with the meridian of 30°E; from there north along that meridian to its landfall on the continent of Africa. The area is as shown in Appendix 1-1.
(4) “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).
(5) “Carrier vessel” means the following vessels that conduct the transshipment of catches from tuna longline fishing vessel(s) to itself and transports to ports:
i. ‘Carrier vessel of the Republic of China’ refers to the carrier vessel which has the fishing license of the Republic of China.
ii. ‘Foreign carrier vessel’ refers to the carrier vessel, excluding container vessel, which has the valid nationality certificate of the flag State of a foreign country.

• Appendix 1 The area of the Indian Ocean.pdf
• Appendix 1-1 The area of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement.pdf

Fishing vessels proceeding to the Indian Ocean to catch highly migratory species such as, tunas, billfishes, sharks, skipjack, or mahi mahi shall be limited to tuna longline fishing vessels of 20 Gross Tonnage (GT) and above.
“Regulations for Fishing Vessels Conducting Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery” shall also be applied to any tuna longline fishing vessel catching southern bluefin tuna.
Fishing vessels shall not target oilfish in the Agreement Area without the authorization of the competent authority.
The targeting of oilfish as referred to in the preceding paragraph means that the oil fish catch amount of the fishing vessel during current fishing trip exceeds 50% and above of its total catch amount of the same period.

Tuna longling fishing vessels proceeding to the Indian Ocean for fishing operation are categorized, in accordance with the catch species and operation patterns, into the following groups:
(1) Large scale longliners:
i. Bigeye tuna group: bigeye tuna as the target species.
ii. Albacore tuna group: albacore tuna as the target species.
(2) Small scale longliners:
i. Frozen yellowfin tuna group: a fishing vessel with freezing equipment which has more individual vessel quota of bigeye tuna than a fishing vessel of the general group.
ii. General group: no specific target species.
Fishing areas in the Indian Ocean for large scale longliners are divided as follows:
(1) Bigeye tuna fishing area: the Indian Ocean north of 30°S, excluding the high risk area of piracy which is bounded by the following lines: from the east coast of Kenya due east along the 4°S to its intersection with 44°E; thence due northeast to the intersection between the equator and the 49°E; thence to the intersection between the 15°N and the 61°E; thence due west along the 15°N to the west off the east coast of Yemen. The area is as shown in Appendix 2.
(2) Oilfish fishing area: the Indian Ocean south of 30°S and west of 65°E. The area is as shown in Appendix 3.
(3) Albacore tuna fishing area: the Indian Ocean west of 75°E and south of 15°S; and east of 75°E and south of 10°S. The area is as shown in Appendix 4.
The fishing area in the Indian Ocean for small scale longliners is the Indian Ocean except for the high risk area of piracy. The area is as shown in Appendix 5.
Any small scale longliner shall not fish in the area south of 28°S and east of 65°E from April to September every year.
Tuna longline fishing vessels shall fish only within the fishing area(s) permitted by the competent authority.

• Appendix 2 The bigeye tuna fishing area.pdf
• Appendix 3 The oilfish fishing area.pdf
• Appendix 4 The albacore tuna fishing area.pdf
• Appendix 5 The fishing area for small scale longliners.pdf

(Deleted)

Limits on the number of tuna longline fishing vessels fishing in the Indian Ocean are as follows:
(1) For large scale longliners:
i. Bigeye tuna group: the number of fishing vessels is limited to 153.
ii. Albacore tuna group: the number of fishing vessels is limited to 37.
(2) For small scale longliners:
i. Frozen yellowfin tuna group: the number is limited to 50.
ii. General group: the number is limited to 350.

Any tuna longline fishing vessel shall not stay at sea for more than ten consecutive months. The duration may be extended for two months with the consent of the competent authority, provided that there is a cause of force majeure or insufficient berths in port that leads to failing to enter port within the required timeframe. Such extension shall be permitted for one time only.
For any tuna longline fishing vessel that does not enter port before these Regulations are promulgated on 12 April 2022, its days at sea before 1 January 2022 are not counted in the duration as referred to in the preceding paragraph.