Cap. 425 Art. 2Interpretation.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires -

"aquaculture" means the rearing and cultivation of fish by virtue of the use of technical means set up in order to increase the production of the organisms concerned beyond their natural environmental capacity, by which the organisms remain property of the natural or legal person throughout the period of rearing and cultivation, up to and including the harvesting thereof; "aquaculture establishment" means any area, enclosure, impoundment, premises or structure set up or used on land or in water intended for aquaculture;

"Board" means the Fisheries Board established under article 5; "commercial fisherman" means:

(a) in the case of an individual, a person who is engaged or who intends to engage in fishing for sale throughout the year or a specified season or part of a season each year and can satisfy the Director that during such time as he engages in fishing for sale he relies on his fishing activities for the whole or for part of his income; or

(b) in the case of a company, society or association of persons, one that satisfies the Director that it has an appreciable investment in the fishing industry or intends to make a substantial investment in the fishing or ancillary industry;

"commercial fishing" means all fishing operations with the exception of subsistence fishing and recreational fishing; "convention" means an international treaty, agreement or other arrangement, other than "the Treaty" as defined in the European Union

Act;

"convention area" means, in relation to any international convention, the area to which the convention relates;

"convention fisheries officer" means a person appointed by the government of another country or having power under the laws of that country to enforce a convention, to which Malta is a party, and which provides for the safeguarding or conduct of fishing operations or operations ancillary thereto; "convention fishing vessel" means a fishing vessel registered under the flag of a country which is a party to a convention to which Malta is also a party and the fishing vessels of which have been registered accordingly under such convention; "coral" means the calcareous skeleton secreted by polypoid coelenterates of the class anthozoa; "Director" means the Director responsible for fisheries appointed by virtue of article 4 or any person to whom he may delegate any of the functions under article 4(2); "fish" means any aquatic animal, whether piscine or not, and includes shellfish, crustaceans, sponges, sea urchins, turtles, aquatic mammals and their young, fry, eggs or spawn and shells and parts thereof and fish meal; "fisheries protection officer" means the Director, any of the fisheries protection officers provided for under article 4(3), and all members of the Malta Police Force and the Armed Forces of Malta acting for the purposes of this Act;

"fishing" means:

(a) the catching or taking of fish that occur or have grown naturally in the sea;

(b) any other activity which can reasonably be expected to result in the catching or taking of fish or the farming of fish;

(c) any operation at sea in support of or in preparation of any activity described in paragraphs (a) and (b); "fishing licence" means a document conferring on its holder the right to use a certain fishing capacity for the commercial exploitation of living aquatic resources;

"fishing permit" means a fishing permit issued in respect of a fishing vessel in addition to its fishing licence, entitling it to carry out specific fishing activities during a specified period and, or in a given area and, or for a given fishery and to do so under specific conditions; "fishing vessel" means any vessel of whatever size and in whatever way propelled which is for the time being employed in fishing operations or for the processing, storage or carriage of fish or of any operations (including transhipment of fish) ancillary thereto, or which is registered or authorised for so doing, but does not include any vessel used for the transport of fish or fish products as part of a general cargo; "fishing waters" means the fishing waters of Malta as defined in article 3; "fish market trader or means an operator licensed to carry out pitkal" wholesale auctions on behalf of a licence holder at the public fish auction hall; "foreign fishing vessel" means a fishing vessel which is neither a local fishing vessel nor a convention fishing vessel;

"foreign fishing vessel" means any other fishing vessel that does not fall under the definition of a local fishing vessel;

"internal waters" means those seawaters on the landward side of the baselines from which the territorial sea of Malta is measured;

"licensed fishing vessel" means a vessel granted a licence or permit to fish in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

"local fishing vessel" means any vessel -

(a) wholly owned and controlled by one or more persons ordinarily resident in Malta, or

(b) wholly owned and controlled by a company, society or association of persons incorporated in or established under the laws of Malta and controlled by one or more persons ordinarily resident in Malta: Provided that a fishing vessel owned and controlled as provided according to paragraphs (a) and (b) shall in no case be considered a local fishing vessel if it is registered outside the jurisdiction of Malta; "master" means, in relation to a fishing vessel, the person who for the time being is in command or in charge of the fishing operations on board the vessel;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for fisheries and aquaculture;

"operator" means any natural or legal person carrying out any activities related to any stage of production, processing, marketing, distribution and retail chains of fisheries and aquaculture products;

"person" includes a body or other association of persons whether or not granted legal personality, in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule to the Civil Code;

"processing", in relation to fish, includes cleaning, filleting, freezing, canning, salting, smoking, cooking, pickling, drying or otherwise preserving or preparing fish by any method;

"record of fishing vessels" means the record of local fishing vessels maintained by the Director under article 7;

"temporary immobilisation order" means an order given by a Director or any other person delegated by him under this Act, ordering a vessel to be seized and detained according to such conditions as the Director may specify in the order; "transhipment" means the unloading of any fisheries or aquaculture products on board a vessel with the exception of relocation, pair trawling activities and fishing operations involving joint action by two

(2) or more local fishing vessels; "vessel" means a steamer, motor vessel, launch, boat, hovercraft, submersible or floating craft of any description.