S.L. 425.16 Art. 2Interpretation. Cap. 425.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context requires otherwise:

"Act" means the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act;

"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, where the organisms remain property of the natural or legal person operating the aquaculture establishment throughout the period of rearing and cultivation, up to and including the harvesting thereof;

"auxiliary vessel" means any vessel used to transport unprocessed dead bluefin tuna from any sort of cage, or from a purse seine vessel or a trap to a designated port and, or to a processing vessel;

"average eBCD caging weight" means total weight divided by the total number of individual BFT in a particular cage as recorded in the caging section within individual eBCDs;

"average harvest weight" means the total live weight of the fish harvested per cage divided by the total number of individual BFT as recorded during the harvesting process;

"BCD" or "electronic BCD (eBCD)" means a bluefin catch document in a form as required and, or approved by the Director;

*See Legal Notice 363 of 2022. "caging" means the relocation of live bluefin tuna from the transport cage or trap to the aquaculture cages;

"catching vessel" means a fishing vessel used for the purposes of the commercial capture of bluefin tuna resources;

"control camera" means a stereoscopical camera and, or conventional video camera for the purpose of the controls prescribed by these regulations;

"control transfer" means any additional transfer being implemented at the request of an operator or upon on order by the Director, for the purpose of verifying the number of bluefin tuna in a towing or aquaculture cage;

"donor operator" means the master of the catching or the towing vessel or its representative, or the representative of an aquaculture establishment or a trap, from which a transfer operation is originated;

"fattening" or "farming" means caging of bluefin tuna in aquaculture establishments and subsequent feeding aiming to fatten and increase their total biomass;

"fishing vessel" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Act, and without prejudice thereto it shall also include any powered vessel used for the purposes of the commercial exploitation of bluefin tuna resources, including catching vessels, fish processing vessels, support vessels, towing vessels, vessels engaged in transhipment and transport vessels equipped for the transportation of tuna products and auxiliary vessels, except container vessels;

"further transfer" means any transfer operation that is conducted after the first transfer from a catching vessel’s net or a trap and before caging at the destination aquaculture establishment;

"harvesting" means the killing of bluefin tuna in aquaculture establishment or traps;

"HRV" means the Harvest Raised Value as calculated according to regulation 18;

"ICCAT" means the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas;

"ICCAT Recommendation 19-04" means the Recommendation by ICCAT amending the Recommendation 18-02 establishing a multi-annual management plan for bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean;

"ICCAT SCRS" means the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics of ICCAT; "international law" includes international law as generally understood and any recommendations, resolutions or decisions by RFMOs as in force from time to time and binding on the European Union and, or Malta or operators under its jurisdiction;

"ITD" means ICCAT Transfer Declaration, and is the relevant transfer declaration as required by ICCAT for the relevant activities;

"processing vessel" means a vessel on board of which fisheries products are subject to one or more of the following operations, prior to their packaging: filleting or slicing, freezing and, or processing;

"purse seine" means a surrounding net the bottom of which is drawn together by means of a purse line at the bottom of the net, which passes through a series of rings along the ground rope, enabling the net to be pursed and closed;

"purse seiner" means a fishing vessel making use of a purse seine;

"RFMO" means a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation recognised by the European Union or at international law, and also includes international organisations having an interest in fisheries and, or aquaculture, including but not limited to the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, or GFCM, and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, as well as any other such organisation as the Minister may prescribe by notice in the Gazette;

"Random controls" means those controls carried out on aquaculture establishments according to regulation 20;

"stereoscopical camera" means a camera with two or more lenses, with a separate image sensor or film frame for each lens, enabling the taking of three-dimensional images for the purpose of measuring the length of the fish and assisting in attaining greater precision in the number and weight of bluefin tuna;

"transfer operations" includes any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the catching vessel's net to the transport cage; any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the trap to the transport cage, independently of the presence of a towing vessel; any transfer of live bluefin tuna from the transport cage to another transport cage; any transfer of a cage containing live bluefin tuna from a towing vessel to another towing vessel; any transfer of live bluefin tuna from one aquaculture establishment to another, or between different cages in the same aquaculture establishment and any transfer of live bluefin tuna from a farming cage to a transport cage;

"towing vessel" means any authorised vessel used for towing cages with or without bluefin tuna; "transhipment" means the unloading of all or any of the fish on board a fishing vessel to another fishing vessel. However, unloading of dead bluefin tuna from the purse seiner net, the trap or the towing vessel to an auxiliary vessel shall not be considered as transhipment;

"trap" means fixed gear anchored to the bottom, usually containing a guide net that leads bluefin tuna into an enclosure or series of enclosures where it is kept prior to harvesting or farming;

"tuna", "bluefin tuna" or "BFT" means specimens of the fish species known by the scientific name of Thunnus thynnus.

(2) Save as otherwise provided in this regulation, the definitions of the Act shall apply to these regulations.