Rules for FAD Closure
3. The definition of a FAD in footnote 1 to CMM 2008-01 shall be interpreted as including:
“any object or group of objects, of any size, that has or has not been deployed, that is living or non-living, including but not limited to buoys, floats, netting, webbing, plastics, bamboo, logs and whale sharks floating on or near the surface of the water that fish may associate with”
4. During the FAD closure period specified in CMM 2008-01, no purse seine vessel shall conduct any part of a set within one nautical mile of a FAD. That is, at no time may the vessel or any of its fishing gear or tenders be located within one nautical mile of a FAD while a set is being conducted.
5. The operator of a vessel shall not allow the vessel to be used to aggregate fish, or to move aggregated fish including using underwater lights and chumming.
6. A FAD and/or associated electronic equipment shall not be retrieved by a vessel during the period of a FAD closure unless: a. the FAD and/or associated electronic equipment are retrieved and kept on board the vessel until landed or until the end of the closure; and b. the vessel does not conduct any set either for a period of seven (7) days after
retrieval or within a fifty (50) mile radius of the point of retrieval of any FAD.
7. In addition to paragraph 6, vessels shall not be used to operate in cooperation with each other in order to catch aggregated fish. No vessel shall conduct any set during
the prohibition period within one nautical mile of a point where a FAD has been retrieved by another vessel within twenty four (24) hours immediately preceding the set.
CMM 2009-02 03-07
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