#TECM2611334AFrance Sets Control Rules for Bluefin Tuna Fishing
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
This order sets the reporting, tracking, transfer and documentation rules for bluefin tuna caught, landed, transported or sold in France, and for professional French-flagged fishing vessels. It applies the international ICCAT bluefin tuna management and catch-documentation rules in French practice. Fishing vessel captains, tug vessels, auxiliary vessels, farms and commercial operators must keep detailed records on catches, transfers, landings, transshipments, dead fish, release operations and electronic catch documents. The rules also strengthen satellite tracking duties, especially for purse seiners and vessels involved in live bluefin tuna operations.
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Key Changes
- Requires detailed electronic or paper reporting for bluefin tuna catches, including weight, number of fish, location, size category and dead bycatch.
- Sets mandatory forms and procedures for transfers, transshipments, landings, release reports, mortality reports and electronic bluefin tuna catch documents.
- Strengthens satellite tracking requirements for French bluefin tuna vessels, tug vessels and auxiliary vessels, with tighter monitoring periods and reporting duties during failures.
Obligations
What this law requires
Captains of fishing vessels that catch bluefin tuna must record in the fishing logbook, from the first individual caught, the vessel IMO number where applicable, catch volume in live weight and number of fish, latitude/longitude of each bluefin tuna fishing operation, weight measurement method, ICCAT conversion coefficients used, and any dead bluefin tuna bycatch whether retained or discarded.
Captains of vessels holding a European bluefin tuna fishing authorization must record the vessel ICCAT register number and report retained and landed bluefin tuna by live-weight size category and number of fish, including separate reporting for specified minimum-size and undersized/discarded categories in paper logbooks or VISIOCaptures as applicable.
Captains of authorized pole-and-line, handline, longline or trawl vessels must report zero bluefin tuna catches during the authorization period, including BFT zero-catch information where the electronic logbook permits it, ticking the VISIOCaptures no-catch box where available, and recording the vessel position at noon UTC when there is no bluefin tuna catch.
Captains of purse seine vessels holding a bluefin tuna authorization must record “BFT zéro” for each fishing operation with no catch and, in VISIOCaptures, tick the no-bluefin-tuna-catch box for each trip during the authorization period.
When bluefin tuna is transferred, the purse seine vessel captain must record in the fishing logbook the transfer date, time and latitude/longitude, species FAO code, number and kilograms transferred into cages, the tug vessel name and ICCAT register number, and the destination farm name and ICCAT register number.