1. CCMs shall prohibit their fishing vessels from fishing within one nautical mile of or interacting with a data buoy in the high seas of the Convention Area, which includes, but is not limited to, encircling the buoy with fishing gear; tying up to or attaching the vessel, or any fishing gear, part or portion of the vessel, to a data buoy or its mooring; or cutting a data buoy anchor line.
2. For the purposes of this measure, data buoys are defined as floating devices, either drifting or anchored, that are deployed by governmental or recognized scientific organizations or entities for the purpose of electronically collecting and measuring environmental data, and not for the purpose of fishing activities.
3. CCMs shall prohibit their fishing vessels from taking on board a data buoy unless specifically authorized or requested to do so by the Member or owner responsible for that buoy.
5. CCMs shall require their fishing vessels that become entangled with a data buoy to remove the entangled fishing gear with as little damage to the data buoy as possible. CCMs are encouraged to require their fishing vessels to report to them all entanglements and provide the date, location and nature of the entanglement, along with any identifying information contained on the data buoy. CCMs shall notify the Secretariat of all such reports.
6. Fishing activities inconsistent with paragraphs 1 and 2 above shall be deemed fishing activities that undermine the WCPF Convention and WCPFC conservation and management measures and shall constitute a serious violation in accordance with Article 25 of the Convention. 7. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, scientific research programs notified to and authorized by the Commission may operate fishing vessels within one nautical mile of a data buoy so long as they do not interact with those data buoys as described in paragraph 1.