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Chapter Law Content

Chapter II Application and Issuance of the Permit
Article 8
For the application of the permit of southern bluefin tuna, the following conditions shall be met:
(1) The distant water fisheries operator shall be a member of the Taiwan Deep Sea Tuna Boat-owners and Exporters Association (hereinafter referred to as “Tuna Association”).
(2) The fishing vessel has installed with the electronic logbook (E-logbook) system that can be filled in the measurement data of each southern bluefin tuna and the seabird mitigation measures employed and can report catch data regularly and normally.
(3) Any of the following distant water fisheries permits issued by the competent authority for the current fishing year has been obtained:
i. For Southcentral Indian Ocean group, Southwestern Indian Ocean group, and Domestic sale group: the permit for bigeye tuna group or albacore tuna group in the Indian Ocean.
ii. For Pacific Ocean group: the permit for albacore tuna group in the Pacific Ocean.
iii. For bycatch group: the permit for albacore tuna group in the Pacific Ocean, albacore tuna group in the Atlantic Ocean, bigeye tuna group in the Indian Ocean or albacore tuna group in the Indian Ocean.
The member as referred to in subparagraph (1) of the preceding paragraph excludes sponsor members.
Article 9
Any distant water fisheries operator applying for the permit of southern bluefin tuna for the following fishing year shall enclose with evidential documents in accordance with Article 8, and register to the Tuna Association by January 10 of the current year. The Tuna Association shall compile applications by group, and submit to the competent authority by January 20 of the current year.
Article 10
For fishing vessels applying for the Pacific Ocean group, the Tuna Association shall coordinate applicants for the priority; and for fishing vessels applying for other groups of the seasonal targeting group, the Tuna Association shall come up with a list of vessel priority in accordance with the following sequence of priority and submit to the competent authority:
(1) First priority: the fishing vessel has been authorized in the seasonal targeting group in any of the past three fishing years, and has actual fishing record.
(2) Second priority: the fishing vessel of albacore tuna group in the Indian Ocean.
(3) Third priority: the fishing vessel of bigeye tuna group in the Indian Ocean.
In the event that fishing vessels applied cannot be prioritized in accordance with the provisions as stipulated in the preceding paragraph, the Tuna Association shall draw lots to decide the priority in an equitable and impartial manner.
Article 11
In the event that the number of fishing vessels obtaining the permit of southern bluefin tuna is less than the limit of each group of the current fishing year, the competent authority may, in addition to filling in the vacancy pursuant to the sequence of priority prescribed in Article 10, announce in due course to accept applications, notwithstanding the application deadline prescribed in Article 9.
In the event that the number of fishing vessels applied for the domestic sale group is less than that promulgated by the competent authority, the Tuna Association shall fill in the vacancy by drawing lots from the fishing vessels applied for southcentral Indian Ocean group of the current fishing year to decide the priority in an equitable and impartial manner.
Article 12
Any distant water fisheries operator whose fishing vessel(s) is under any of the following circumstances shall not be granted the permit of southern bluefin tuna:
(1) For fishing vessels in the seasonal targeting group: the actual landing amount of individual vessel in a fishing year exceeds 10% of its individual vessel quota of the same fishing year, and the punishment imposed has not been executed completely, or three years have not passed since the completion of execution.
(2) For fishing vessels in the bycatch group: the actual landing amount of individual vessel in a fishing year exceeds 30% of its individual vessel quota of the same fishing year, and the punishment imposed has not been executed completely, or three years have not passed since the completion of execution.
(3) For fishing vessels in domestic sale group: the southern bluefin tuna is not shipped back to the Republic of China for domestic sale in accordance with Article 19, and the punishment imposed has not been executed completely, or three years have not passed since the completion of execution.
(4) For fishing vessels in the southcentral Indian Ocean group or domestic sale group: the distant water fisheries operator whose utilization rate of individual vessel quota is 40% and above but less than 50% is punished for not reporting for voluntary quota reduction in accordance with Article 20, and such punishment has not been executed completely or one year has not passed since the completion of such execution; the distant water fisheries operator whose utilization rate of individual vessel quota is 30% and above but less than 40% is punished for not reporting for voluntary quota reduction in accordance with Article 20, and such punishment has not been executed completely or two years have not passed since the completion of such execution; or the distant water fisheries operator whose utilization rate of individual vessel quota is less than 30% is punished for not reporting for voluntary quota reduction in accordance with Article 20, and such punishment has not been executed completely or three years have not passed since the completion of such execution.
Article 13
A certificate of the permit of southern bluefin tuna will be issued for the application approved by the competent authority. The maximum period of validity of the permit shall be one year.
The certificate of the permit of southern bluefin tuna shall record, both in Chinese and English, the following:
(1)The number of the certificate;
(2)The name, CT number, GT, length overall (LOA) and fisheries type of the fishing vessel;
(3)Name of the distant water fisheries operator;
(4)The authorized fishing Ocean, group, fishing area(s), and fishing period;
(5)The International Radio Call Sign (IRCS);
(6)The IMO ship identification number; and
(7)The incidental provisions: in the event that the distant water fisheries permit of the fishing vessel is invalid during the period permitted to catch southern bluefin tuna, the permit of southern bluefin tuna shall be invalid simultaneously.
The distant water fisheries operator shall place onboard the fishing vessel a copy of the valid permit of southern bluefin tuna in case of inspection.
Article 14
Any fishing vessel that has obtained the permit of southern bluefin tuna of the southcentral Indian Ocean group or domestic sale group shall enter the southcentral Indian Ocean fishing area by July 31 of the current year.
Any fishing vessel that has obtained the permit of southern bluefin of the southwestern Indian Ocean group shall enter the southwestern Indian Ocean fishing area by November 30 of the current year.
For any fishing vessel failing to enter the fishing area it belongs to by the deadline as stipulated in the preceding two paragraphs, its permit of southern bluefin tuna shall be revoked.