712 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 31 21 FEBRUARY 2008

Fisheries (Seabird Sustainability Measures—Bottom Longlines) Notice 2008 (No. F430)

Pursuant to section 11 of the Fisheries Act 1996, the Minister of Fisheries gives the following notice.

Notice

1. Title—This notice is the Fisheries (Seabird Sustainability Measures—Bottom Longlines) Notice 2008.

2. Commencement—This notice comes into force 28 days after the date of its notification in the New Zealand Gazette.

3. Interpretation—In this notice, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Act" means the Fisheries Act 1996;

"aerial extent" means the section of the streamer line backbone running from the vessel stern, to where the backbone of the streamer line enters the water;

"bottom longline" means a line to which 7 or more hooks (whether baited or not) are attached, and is sunk using weights also attached;

"hauling" means the period from when line retrieval commences to when the longline is completely onboard;

"nautical dawn" means the time at sunrise when the centre of the sun is at a depression angle of 12 degrees below the ideal horizon for the location of fishing;

"nautical dusk" means the time at sunset when the centre of the sun is at a depression angle of 12 degrees below the ideal horizon for the location of fishing;

"offal" means solid fish parts, including heads, guts, frames, tails, tentacles and fish trimmings, or parts thereof including minced parts; and

"set", in relation to a bottom longline, means releasing the bottom longline into the water.

4. Streamer line required—A commercial fisher using bottom longlines as a method of fishing must:

(a) carry a streamer line on board the vessel used by the commercial fisher; and

(b) permit inspection of the streamer line at any reasonable time by a fisheries officer or an observer appointed under section 223(2) of the Act.

5. Use of streamer line during setting of bottom longlines—During the setting of bottom longlines, the streamer line must be used in accordance with clause 6 of this notice.

6. Streamer line specifications—(1) The streamer line must meet the following specifications:

(a) The streamer line must be attached to the vessel so that when deployed the baits are protected by the streamer line, even in cross wind;

(b) the streamer line must be a minimum of 150 metres in length;

(c) the streamer line must achieve a minimum aerial extent of 50 metres;

(d) streamers must be brightly coloured;

(e) streamers must be spaced at a maximum of 5 metres apart, beginning not more than 5 metres from the stern of the vessel and extending thereafter along the aerial extent of the line;

(f) when deployed, each of the streamers must reach the sea surface in the absence of wind and swell. Streamer length will therefore vary depending on the height of their attachment point above the water; and

(g) the streamer line must be suspended from a point on the vessel at least 5 metres above the water in the absence of swell.

(2) The specifications in subclause (1) do not apply to additional or secondary seabird scaring devices fishers may choose to use (such as a second tori or streamer line).

7. Restrictions on use of bottom longlines—No commercial fisher may set bottom longlines to take fish, aquatic life or seaweed between the hours of 0.5 hours before nautical dawn and 0.5 hours after nautical dusk, unless line weighting is employed in accordance with clause 8 of this notice.

8. Line weighting—(1) For the purposes of clause 7, lines must be:

(a) an integrated weighted line with a lead core of at least 50g/m; or

(b) when externally weighted gear is used, attach at least 4 kilograms of metal weight for every 60 metres of line.

(2) Regardless of the type of line weighting used under clause 8(1):

(a) any rope or line used to attach weights to the hook-bearing line must not be longer than 10 metres; and

(b) no more than 3 floats (up to 120 millimetres in diameter) may be attached to the hook-bearing line for every 60 metres of line, unless an additional 1 kilogram weight is added to the line per additional float; and

(c) floats greater than 120 millimetre in diameter are not permitted to the hook bearing line.

9. Restriction of offal or fish discharge while setting and hauling bottom longlines—(1) No person may discharge offal or fish during setting of bottom longlines.

(2) Offal or fish may be discharged during the hauling of bottom longlines provided it is discharged from the side of the vessel that is opposite to side which the hauling station is located.

(3) Subclause (1) does not apply to:

(a) fish that are legally undersize; or

(b) fish that are listed on the Sixth Schedule of the Fisheries Act 1996 and that are likely to survive.

10. The Schedule—(1) The Schedule provides further guidelines on the design and deployment of streamer lines as seabird scaring devices.

(2) The Schedule is not part of the specifications.

(3) If there is any inconsistency between the guidelines in the Schedule and the specifications, the specifications prevail.