Regulations for Tuna Longline or Purse Seine Fishing Vessels Proceeding to the Pacific Ocean for Fishing Operation Article 86

The use of mesh net shall be prohibited for any part of a fish aggregating device (hereinafter referred to as “FAD”) used by any tuna purse seine fishing vessel. In addition, only non-entangling materials shall be used for the covered raft and the subsurface structure of any FAD.Any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall not use or retrieve any FAD and shall not catch the school of fish associated with FAD(s) during the FAD closure period promulgated by the competent authority.During the period of FAD closure, any tuna purse seine fishing vessel shall report its position once every 30 minutes, and manual report while fishing shall be prohibited.The FAD as referred to in these Regulations means any object, creature or method, regardless of size, living or non-living, floating on or near the water surface or semi-submerged in the water, that is capable of aggregating fish. Types include buoys, floats, webbings, weaved items, plastic, drifting woods (bamboo, timber, log, etc), creature (such as whale shark), fishing vessel itself or another vessel, underwater light and casting bait.