Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations“Act” means the High Seas Fishing Act; No. 26 of 2013. 10 High Seas Fishing “charterer” means any person who hires, leases or otherwise reserves the use of a vessel from the owner or operator under a written agreement; “continuous violation” means a minor violation or a serious violation consisting of an uninterrupted series of connected acts which endure after the commission of the initial violation, as distinguished from isolated and disconnected acts; “dollar” or “$” means dollar in the currency of the United States of America; “fishery products” means any products derived as a result of fishing and fishing related activities; “master” means the person in charge or apparently in charge of the fishing activities of the vessel; “minor violation” means any act of non-compliance with the Act or the regulations made thereunder other than that classified as a serious violation; “offence” has the same meaning as the term ‘violation’; “operator” means any person who is in charge of or who directs or controls a fishing vessel or for whose direct economic or financial benefit the vessel is being used, and includes the master, owner and charterer; “owner” means the ultimate owning entity or representative thereof (either individual or body corporate or group of companies); the beneficial owner may be the vessel’s management company or the trading name of a group, both of which are generally perceived to represent the ultimate owner of the vessel; “person” means a natural person or a legal person, including a master, owner, operator, charterer, business enterprise, High Seas Fishing 11 corporation, partnership, cooperative, or association of persons whatsoever; “recidivism” means the act of committing a minor or a serious violation more than once and within a specified time period; “serious violation” means– (a) fishing without a valid license, authorization or permit issued by the flag State or the relevant coastal State; (b) failure to maintain accurate records of catch and related data required by the flag State and other regional or sub-regional organizations; (c) misreporting of catch in contravention of catch reporting requirements of the flag State and regional or sub-regional organizations; (d) fishing in closed areas; (e) fishing during a closed season; (f) targeting species without quota allocation granted by the flag State where quota allocations are applicable; (g) using prohibited or non-compliant fishing gears; (h) fishing for species which are subject to a moratorium or for which fishing is prohibited; (i) concealing the markings, identification or registration of the fishing vessel; 12 High Seas Fishing (j) falsifying the markings, identification or registration of the vessel; (k) concealing, tampering with or disposing of evidence relating to an investigation; (l) multiple minor or serious violations, which together constitute a serious disregard for conservation and management measures; (m) failure to submit data required to be transmitted by satellite vessel monitoring system; (n) obstructing the work of authorized officers in the exercise of their duties in monitoring compliance with applicable conservation and management measures; (o) obstructing the work of observers in the exercise of their duties of observing compliance with applicable conservation and management measures; (p) taking on board, landing or transhipping undersized fish in contravention of applicable conservation and management measures; (q) engaging in unauthorized transshipment activities on the high seas, or in the jurisdictional waters or ports of a coastal state; (r) transhipping or participating in joint fishing operations which supported or re-supplied other fishing vessels identified as having engaged in IUU fishing, including those included in the IUU list of an RFMO or other recognized IUU list; High Seas Fishing 13 (s) falsification of documents or use of such documents relevant to the operation of the vessel; (t) carrying out fishing activities in the area of an RFMO in a manner inconsistent with or in contravention of the conservation and management measures of that organization and being flagged to a State not party to that organization or not cooperating with that organization as established by that organization; or (u) non-compliance with measures outlined in circulars or notices established by the flag State or conservation and management measures set forth by relevant sub-regional or regional fisheries management organization or arrangement; “vessel” means a Belize flagged vessel. (2) Other words and expressions used in these Regulations shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.