Aquaculture Operations Regulations, 2017

L.N. 157 of 2017

FISHERIES CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT

(CAP. 425)

Aquaculture Operations Regulations, 2017

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred granted by article 38 of

the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, the Minister for

Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, in

conjunction with the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture,

Fisheries and Animal Rights, has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Aquaculture Operations Citation.

Regulations, 2017.

(1)

In these regulations, unless the context otherwise Definitions.

requires

"Act" means the Fisheries Conservation and Management

Act;

"aquaculture operation" means the farming, rearing,

keeping or cultivation of aquatic organisms using techniques

designed to increase production of the organisms in question in

any manner whatsoever, including mariculture;

"concession" means any area in the fishing waters of Malta

as allocated by the Director in accordance with an aquaculture

permit as issued according to articles 26 and 27 of the Act and

particularly of article 27(2) thereof;

"Director" means the Director of Aquaculture delegated

under article 4(2) of the Act for the purpose of administering

and enforcing these regulations;

"land base" means the part of the aquaculture

establishment that is located on land and includes any areas

designated as dry stores, feed stores, refrigeration units,

packaging plants, processing plants and, or other premises and

appurtenancies thereto as may be related to such aquaculture

operation;

"operator" means any natural or legal person that owns,

holds on lease, manages or in any other manner operates an

aquaculture operation or any part thereof and is recognized as

such by the Director under regulation 5(1);

"sea installation" means the part of the aquaculture

establishment that is located in the fishing waters.

(2) Save as otherwise provided in these regulations, the

definitions provided for in the Act shall also apply to these

regulations.

(1)

Without prejudice to the provisions of any other

law, all aquaculture operations shall be subject to a permit in

accordance with articles 26 and 27 of the Act and these regulations.

(2) Any permit referred or issued under these regulations shall

be construed as a permit issued under articles 26 and 27 of the Act

and a permit so issued shall be issued in accordance with articles 26

and 27 of the Act.

(1)

Without prejudice to regulation 3(1), and except for

existing operations according to regulation 9, an operator shall, prior

to commencing his operation, apply with the Director for a permit to

carry out aquaculture operations.

(2) The operator shall use the latest application form as the

Director may publish by notice in the Gazette and he shall submit

such documents as may be specified in said notice.

(3) The application shall be accompanied by all the necessary

documentation in compliance with sub-regulation (2), and as may

from time to time be stipulated by the Director, and shall also include

the following

(a)

an authenticated copy of a valid identification

document of the applicant;

(b)

an authenticated copy of the current constitutional

documents of the legal person, with a legalized translation,

where applicable, in English;

(c)

in the case of an aquaculture establishment

consisting of or inclusive of a land base, proof of entitlement to

use the area delimiting the land base;

(d)

an operation plan, which shall as a minimum

describe how the aquaculture establishment will be operated and

including the planned maximum capacity of fish, the modelling

of the carrying capacity of the site and the fish species involved;

(e)

authenticated copies of all relevant licences,

permits, certificates or other documents as may be specified in

the notice referred under sub-regulation (2), including but not

limited to valid permissions issued in terms of the Environment Cap. 549

Protection Act and the Development Planning Act, as Cap. 552

applicable;

(f)

plans of the aquaculture site and sea installation for

which the aquaculture operations permit is being applied for,

which plans shall also include the global positioning system co-

ordinates of the prospective site;

(g)

a signed declaration by the applicant stating his

commitment to abide by the Code of Good Practice for

Sustainable Aquaculture issued under regulation 8.

(4) Receipt of applications shall be subject to the payment of a

fee of thirty-five thousand euro (€35,000.00)

Provided that, if an application under this regulation is

rejected, the applicant shall be entitled to a refund equivalent to

thirty-one thousand and five hundred euro (€31,500.00). Payments

shall be made to the Environment Promotion and Protection Fund.

(1)

The Director may issue a permit to an operator Issue, refusal,

when a complete and correct application is submitted together with suspension

termination of a

the applicable fee under regulation 4(4)

permit.

Provided that, for the purposes of these regulations, the

operator alone shall be responsible for all aspects of the aquaculture

establishment and its aquaculture operations and this shall be so for

any act or omission as may be committed or omitted by himself or by

any other persons under his direction or not

Provided further that the Director may refuse to issue a

permit if there exist good and compelling reasons for such a refusal.

The Director shall always give reasons for refusing a permit.

(2) Prior to issuing a permit the Director shall consult with any

relevant competent authority that has a direct interest in the

permitting of the Aquaculture operation

(3) When taking his decision, the Director shall consider the

financial viability of the operation, its environmental impact, all

relevant information and authorisations, Government policy and

strategy on aquaculture and the availability of an adequate site for a

concession that can be allocated to the applicant in accordance with

the Act and these regulations.

(4) Without prejudice to articles 26 and 27 of the Act, the

Director may prescribe such conditions as he deems fit for the issue

and validity of a permit issued under these regulations.

(5) The permit document shall include those conditions

required by the Director for its validity and for conformity thereto.

(6) The permit shall be valid for a period of twenty-five years

and may be renewed for further periods of five years or for such

longer term as determined at the discretion of the Director following

his consideration of each particular case

Provided that the continuation of the permit is subject to

compliance by the operator with all of the conditions referred under

sub-regulation (4) and (5).

Provided further that an Operator shall, at all times, be in

possession of valid permits as required by Environment and

Resources Authority, in accordance with the Environment Protection

Act.

(7) Without prejudice to any other applicable law, no changes

to the aquaculture establishment and its aquaculture operations may

be made unless previously authorised in writing by the Director.

(8) Upon issuing a permit, the Director shall include the

location and the relevant geographical co-ordinates of the aquaculture

establishment in the Aquaculture Operations Register established

under regulation 6.

(9) The issue of a permit according to these regulations shall

not exempt the holder of such permit from the obligation of obtaining

any other permit or licence which may be required under any other

law.

(10) The Director may revise the conditions laid down in the

permit in order to address any undesirable impacts emanating from

the operation of the aquaculture establishment that were not

adequately addressed through the permitting process.

(11) The permit for aquaculture establishments farming the

species Thunnus thynnus shall be subject to a yearly fee of ten

thousand euro (€10,000.00) which shall be payable to the

Environment Promotion and Protection Fund.

The permit for aquaculture establishments farming exclusively

species other than Thunnus thynnus shall be subject to a yearly fee of

five thousand euro (€5,000) which shall be payable to the

Environment Promotion and Protection Fund.

(12) In the case of a failure to abide with any of the conditions

of a permit issued under this regulation, the Director shall notify the

operator and specify a time-frame during which corrective action

should be taken.

(13) The Director may suspend or terminate a permit if the

aquaculture operator does not comply with the time-frame established

under regulation 5 (12).

(14) All complete permit applications, once submitted, shall be

processed within 12 months from submission of application, unless

further information is requested.

(1)

There shall be established an electronically Aquaculture

available Aquaculture Operations Register under the responsibility of Operations

Register.

the Director.

(2) The register shall identify the locations of the aquaculture

establishments and shall also include any conditions required by the

Director for each particular permit under the Act and, or these

regulations. The register shall also include the following specific

information

(a)

particulars of the permit holder;

(b)

expiry date of the permit issued, without prejudice

to renewals;

(c)

transfers of permit;

(d)

biomass maintained;

(e)

species or class of species that can be cultivated at

the site;

(f)

changes in cultivated species or class of species

over time;

(g)

records of incidents involving loss of fish or

damage to installations at each site;

(h)

any special circumstances to be included at the

discretion of the Director.

(3) The Aquaculture Operations Register shall be made

available to the public.

The Director may revoke any permit issued under these

regulations should an aquaculture establishment fail to be used for

aquaculture operations for four (4) or more consecutive years.

(1) The Code of Good Practice for Sustainable

Aquaculture shall be that listed in the Schedule to these regulations.

(2) From time to time, the Director shall publish changes to

the Code of Good Practice for Sustainable Aquaculture

Provided that if such changes involve new requirements,

the Director shall indicate any applicable transitional periods for such

requirements.

(3) The Code of Good Practice for Sustainable Aquaculture

may, inter alia, establish principles of good practice for every

aquaculture operation so as to provide assurance that aquaculture

establishments operate within a highly responsible sector.

(4) Operators of aquaculture establishments shall comply with

all of the requirements laid down in the Code of Good Practice for

Sustainable Aquaculture as may be published from time to time.

(1)

The Director shall endeavour to include in the

Aquaculture Operations Register all aquaculture establishments

which upon the date of coming into force of these regulations were

already operative.

(2) Prior to inclusion in the Aquaculture Operations Register

as referred under sub-regulation (1), the Director shall ensure that

duly competent representatives of the aquaculture establishments

referred under sub-regulation (1) sign a declaration that their

aquaculture operations comply and shall comply with these

regulations and the Act.

(3) Without prejudice to any of the provisions of these

regulations, the aquaculture establishments referred under sub-

regulation (1) shall be registered subject to the payment of the fee

mentioned in regulation 5(11).

(4) Subject to fulfilling all requirements under these

regulations to the satisfaction of the Director, the Director shall issue

a permit for the aquaculture establishments referred in sub-regulation

(1) and in such permit he shall list all conditions and transitional

measures applicable to the operator

Provided that such permit shall include all applicable

mitigation measures necessary to safeguard against any

environmental contamination arising from the aquaculture operations.

(5) All aquaculture establishments operating before or during

the coming into force of these regulations shall have to be registered

in accordance with these regulations within one hundred and eighty

(180) days from the coming into force of these regulations

Provided that those aquaculture establishments which fail

to be registered within the stipulated term shall be treated as new

applicants for the purposes of the Act and these regulations.

(6) Failure to implement any of the conditions listed in the

permit issued according to this regulation within such time as

determined by the Director shall ipso facto result in the termination of

the said permit.

(1)

Without prejudice to the obligations of any other Alien and

competent authority on alien and locally absent species, the Director locally

species.

shall be the competent authority for the purposes of Article 5 of

Council Regulation (EC) No 708/2007 of 11 June 2007 concerning

use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture as in force from

time to time.

(2) In the case of an application for a non-routine movement

as outlined in Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 708/2007 of

11 June 2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in

aquaculture, the operator shall be responsible to perform the

environmental risk assessment referred to therein and shall bear all

the applicable costs related thereto.

(3) The Director shall be responsible for ensuring that all

obligations within Council Regulation (EC) No 708/2007 of 11 June

2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in

aquaculture, as in force from time to time, are adequately

implemented and respected.

(4) For the purposes of sub-regulation 3, the Director may

issue binding instructions to operators

Provided that such instructions shall be reasonable,

proportionate and effective.

Any person who contravenes these regulations shall be Offences and

penalties.

guilty of an offence against the Act.

Regulation 46 of the Fishery Regulations is hereby Repeal.

repealed.

Schedule

Code of Good Practice for Sustainable Aquaculture

The document "A Code of Conduct for European Aquaculture"

published by the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers and

dated 2008 is hereby adopted as the Code of Good Practice for

Sustainable Aquaculture in terms of regulation 8(1).