Fishing Vessels (Amendment) Regulations, 2023

L.N. 191 of 2023

FISHERIES CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT

(CAP. 425)

Fishing Vessels (Amendment) Regulations, 2023

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 38 of the

Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, the Minister responsible

for fisheries and aquaculture, has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Fishing Vessels

(Amendment) Regulations, 2023, and these regulations shall be

read and construed as one with the Fishing Vessels Regulations,

hereinafter referred to as "the principal regulations".

(2) These regulations shall come into force within two (2)

months from their publication in the Gazette.

Regulation 2 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a) immediately after the definition "Act" thereof there

shall be added the following new definition

" "AWLS" means an automated weighing and

labelling system, and refers to electronic systems provided

and, or approved by the Director for the weighing and

labelling of fish, and installed at fish landing places as

required by the Director;";

(b) in the English version only, in the definition

"Minister" thereof the words "for fisheries and aquaculture."

shall be substituted by the words "for fisheries and aquaculture;";

(c) immediately after there shall be added the following

new definition

" "satellite-tracking device" shall have the same

meaning as assigned to it in Article 2(9) of the Commission

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 of 8 April

2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of

Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing a

Community control system for ensuring compliance with

the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, as in force from

time to time.".

Regulation 3 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 3 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a) the proviso thereof shall be substituted by the

following new proviso

"Provided that without prejudice to regulation

9, the Director shall not register or renew any registration

with respect to any vessel falling under category C as

described in regulation 8, if the same vessel is of a length of

twelve metres (12m) or more:"; and

(b) immediately after there shall be added the following

new proviso

"Provided further that in exceptional cases and

if not causing any prejudice to the fishing sector, generally

or in the particular case, the Director may register or renew

registrations in category C for vessels of a length of twelve

metres (12m) or more.".

Regulation 5 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

regulation 5 of

as follows

the principal

regulations.

(a)

sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be amended as

follows

(i)

the words "using the form indicated in

Schedule I." thereof shall be substituted by the words

"using and completing those forms as may be required by

the Director.";

(ii) in paragraph (a) thereof, the words "made

thereunder" shall be substituted by the words "made

thereunder, or a sworn declaration stating that the vessel

was not previously registered according to any law in

Malta, and if no boat builder’s certificate can be provided

the same declaration shall also state the origin of the

vessel;";

(iii) paragraph (d) thereof shall be substituted by

the following new paragraph

"(d) as many photographs as may be required

to show the entirety of the fishing vessel, in order that

the said photographs include the complete length,

width and height from stern to bow, and port and

starboard of the fishing vessel;";

(iv) paragraph (e) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(e) a copy of a legally valid identification

document of the physical person submitting the

application; and"; and

(v) immediately after there shall be added the

following new paragraph

"(f) the applicant shall provide reasonable

evidence that he and the master of the vessel

indicated upon the application for registration satisfy

the requirements of sub-regulation (3)."; and

(b) in sub-regulation (3) thereof, the words "shall be

resident in Malta in terms of the provisions of the Immovable

Property (Acquisition by Non-Residents) Act" shall be

substituted by the words "shall be, at all times, resident in Malta

and in conformity with all applicable immigration, residential,

fiscal and employment laws, and the Director may require any

evidence proving compliance with those laws and in case of a

failure to provide such evidence or of a doubt on the said

compliance, the Director shall refuse the application or suspend

or revoke a registration.", and the marginal note shall be deleted.

Regulation 7 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

" Registration,

(1) Vessel registration and license fees

licensing

shall be paid in accordance with Schedule II.

and fees.

(2) Unless a licence indicates otherwise, the

duration of a fishing licence shall be for a period of

one (1) year from its date of issue, and for a period of

twenty-four (24) hours in the case of each fishing

trip.".

6. Regulation 12 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

(1) The masters of all fishing vessels

shall be responsible for the fulfilment of any logbook

obligation as applicable to them in accordance with

European Union law and, or as the Director may

require in issuing any licence or permit in accordance

with the Act

Provided that the Director may provide

logbooks to be used by masters of fishing vessels and,

when those logbooks are correctly used, all logbook

obligations shall be deemed iuris et de iure to have

been fulfilled for all intents and purposes at law

Provided further that the logbooks

provided by the Director may be on paper and, or

electronic format as the Director may decide.

(2) When requiring logbooks according to

sub-regulation (1), the Director may provide for

different logbook obligations and, or different

logbook formats for different vessels and, or

categories of vessels.

(3) Failure to adequately use or complete any

logbook as provided by the Director according to sub-

regulation (1), shall constitute an offence against

these regulations.".

7. Regulation 16 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends

(a) paragraph (a) thereof shall be substituted by the

following new paragraph

"(a) all commercial fishing vessels shall be

equipped with a satellite-tracking device as may be

required by the Director and in accordance with this

regulation

Provided that this obligation shall not apply if a

commercial fishing vessel is otherwise obliged to be

equipped with a functioning Vessel Monitoring System

(VMS) or if a commercial fishing vessel is in fact equipped

with such a functioning system.";

(b)

paragraph (b) thereof shall be deleted; and

(c) immediately after paragraph (e) thereof there shall be

added the following new paragraph

"(f) No person shall input or output any false

positions, manually over-ride, destroy, damage, render

inoperative, tamper or otherwise interfere with the satellite-

tracking device and system

Provided that the Director may authorise

improvement, repair or replacement of the said device and

system.".

8. Regulation 18 of the principal regulations shall be

substituted by the following new regulation

(1) Without prejudice to any other

vessel marking as required by law, all fishing vessels

over ten (10) metres in length overall shall have their

Fishing Vessel Register number marked in accordance

with Article 6 of Commission Implementing

Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 of 8 April 2011 laying

down detailed rules for the implementation of

Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishing

a Community control system for ensuring compliance

with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, as in

force from time to time.

(2) Without prejudice sub-regulation (3) and

any other vessel marking required by law, fishing

vessels of ten (10) metres and less in length overall

shall be marked on both sides of the bow with their

Fishing Vessel Register number, and such markings

shall be in a colour contrasting with the background

on which they are painted.

(3) Vessel markings according to sub-

regulation (2) shall be as follows

(a) for vessels up to six metres (6m) in

length, all the characters of the Fishing Vessel

Register number shall be at least ten centimetres

(10cm) high and two centimetres (2cm) wide;

and

(b) for vessels over six metres (6m) but

less than ten metres (10m) in length, all the

characters of the Fishing Vessel Register

number shall be at least twenty centimetres

(20cm) high and three centimetres (3cm) wide

Provided that the height and width of

every character shall at all times be legible from

a reasonable distance

Provided further that the height and

width of the characters shall be adapted to

dimensions which are never less than the

dimensions referred above.".

9. Immediately after regulation 19 of the principal regulations Adds a new

there shall be added the following new regulation 19A

(1) All commercial fishing vessels shall

land their fish at landing places provided with AWLS

systems approved by the Director.

(2) All fish as landed in accordance with sub-

regulation (1) shall be weighed immediately upon

landing by using the same AWLS system

Provided that any landing and weighing

according to this regulation shall be made prior to the

first sale of the fish.

(3) All data entries required by the AWLS

system shall be entered for all catches landed and

weighed in accordance with this regulation.

(4) The labelling issued by the AWLS system

shall at all times be kept by the possessor of the fish

in accordance with all labelling obligations as

applicable in accordance with European Union law.

(5) This regulation is without prejudice to any

landing, weighing and labelling obligations in

accordance with applicable European Union law, and

shall be read in conjunction and in compliance

therewith.".

10. Schedule I to the principal regulations shall be deleted.

11. In Schedule II to the principal regulations, the word "D", Amends

wherever it occurs in the first column of the table, shall be deleted.

12. Schedule IV to the principal regulations shall be deleted.

€0.63