Matters related to the management of tuna purse seine fishing vessels shall be governed by this Chapter. Matters not stipulated in this Chapter shall be governed by these Regulations.

The total number of fishing days on the high seas of tuna purse seine fishing vessels shall not exceed the limit of the total number of fishing days for the current year promulgated by the competent authority.

Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall not use or retrieve any fish aggregating device (hereinafter referred to as “FAD”) and shall not catch the school of fish associated with FAD(s) during the FAD closure period promulgated by the competent authority.
The definition of FAD as referred to in the preceding paragraph means any object, creature or method, regardless of size, living or non-living, floating on or near the water surface or semi-submerged in the water, that is capable of aggregating fish. Types include buoys, floats, webbings, weaved items, plastic, drifting woods (bamboo, timber, log, etc), creature (such as whale shark), fishing vessel itself or another vessel, underwater light and casting bait.
During the period of FAD closure, any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall report its position once in every 30 minutes, and manual report while fishing shall be prohibited.

Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall not deploy at sea, at any one time, more than 350 drifting FADs with activated instrumented buoys.
An instrumented buoy as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be clearly marked the reference number allowing its identification, and shall be activated exclusively on board the fishing vessel.
Any distant water fisheries operator shall, before activating an instrumented buoy as referred to in paragraph 1, report the information on the brand, type and reference number of such instrumented buoy to the competent authority.

The number of fishing days on the high seas and the period of FAD closure for tuna purse seine fishing vessels shall be promulgated by the competent authority in accordance with conservation and management measures.
The period for using the fishing days on the high seas as referred to in the preceding paragraph is from January 1 to December 31 of the current year.

Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall, during the period of port departure to port entry, carry on board the observer who meets the requirements of the international fisheries organization(s), and shall report the list of observer(s) to the competent authority prior to port departure. In case of special circumstances and with the competent authority’s approval, such provision may not apply.
In case of any change to the observer as referred to in the preceding paragraph, the list of observer(s) shall be reported to the competent authority prior to such change.
For any tuna purse seine fishing vessel fishing in the exclusive economic zone of a foreign country with which the fisheries cooperation is engaged, such vessel shall carry the observer approved by that foreign country.

Upon entry into or exiting the high seas, any captain of the tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall daily fill in the Notification Form and submit it before next day to the Purse Seine Association. The Purse Seine Association shall compile the Notification Form on next working day and submit to the competent authority for perusal. The format of the Notification Form is shown as Appendix 27.
In case that the total fishing days on the high seas has reached 80% of the limit of the current year, the competent authority may order all tuna purse seine fishing vessels to stop fishing on the high seas within the required timeframe.

• Appendix 27 Notification Form of Entry into or Exiting High Seas.PDF

Any purse seine fishing vessel shall not set on a school of fish associated with a cetacean or whale shark.

Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall not engage in transshipment, supplying or refueling on the high seas, and shall land or transship in port.

Any skipjack, bigeye tuna or yellowfin tuna caught by any purse seine fishing vessel shall be retained on board, except for the conditions stipulated in paragraph 2 of this Article.
In case of one of the following conditions, the skipjack, bigeye tuna or yellowfin tuna catch of any purse seine fishing vessel may be discarded. The captain or distant water fisheries operator of such vessel shall record the amount of discard in the E-logbook and, within 48 hours, fill in and submit the Discard Notification of Purse Seiner Catches (format as shown in Appendix 28) to the WCPFC Secretariat, the competent authority and the observer onboard:
(1) Such catch is caught in the final set of a fishing trip, and there is insufficient well space.
(2) The catch is unfit for human consumption for reasons other than size.
(3) Serious malfunction of equipment occurs when the vessel is operating within the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel that discards skipjack, bigeye tuna, or yellowfin tuna pursuant to subparagraph (1) of the preceding paragraph shall not subsequently conduct fishing operation until landing or transshipment.

• Appendix 28 Discard Notification of Purse Seiner Catches.PDF

Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall carry the scoop/dip net to safely release any sea turtle incidentally caught.
In the event that a cetacean, whale shark or sea turtle is incidentally caught in the purse seine net or encircled in the FAD, the captain shall take all possible measures to safely release such species, and fill in the report for submission to the competent authority for perusal within 60 days after the incident happened. The format of the report is as shown in Appendix 29.

• Appendix 29 Report on Incidental Catch by Purse Seine Fishing Vessels.PDF