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1. Processing vessels intending to operate in farms or traps shall send a prior notification to the farm or trap Member State at least 48 hours before arrival of the vessel to the farm or trap area. The prior notification shall include at least the date and estimated time of arrival and information as to whether the processing vessel has bluefin tuna on board, and, if so, shall provide details on the cargo, including quantities in processed weight and live weight and details of the origin (farm or trap and Member State or CPC) of the bluefin tuna on board.

2. Any harvesting operation in farms or traps shall be subject to an authorisation by the farm or trap Member State. To that end, the operator of the farm or trap intending to harvest bluefin tuna shall submit to its farm or trap Member State, as applicable, a request for authorisation, which shall include at least the following information:

— date or period of harvesting,

— estimated quantities to be harvested in number of bluefin tuna individuals and in kg,

— eBCD number associated with the bluefin tuna individuals to be harvested,

— details of auxiliary vessels involved in the operation, and — destination of harvested bluefin tuna (processing vessel, export, local market, etc.).

3. Except for bluefin tuna individuals which are close to dying, no harvesting operation shall be authorised before the results of the quota uptake in accordance with Article 50(7) to (9) has been determined and the associated releases have been conducted.

4. Harvesting operations shall not take place without the presence of a national observer in the case of traps or an ICCAT regional observer in the case of harvesting in farms. For fish delivered to processing vessels, the national observer or ICCAT regional observer may perform their relevant tasks from the processing vessels.

5. The competent authorities of the farm or trap Member States shall verify and cross-check the results of all harvesting operations taking place in farms and traps under their jurisdiction, using all relevant information in their possession. The competent control authorities of the farm or trap Member States shall inspect all harvesting operations of bluefin tuna destined for processing vessels and a percentage of the rest of harvesting operations based on risk analysis.

6. When the destination of the bluefin tuna is a processing vessel, the master of the processing vessel or its representative, shall complete a processing declaration. When the harvested bluefin tuna is to be landed directly into port, the operator of the farm or trap shall complete a harvesting declaration. The processing and harvesting declarations shall be validated by the national observer or ICCAT regional observer present at the harvesting operation.

7. The processing and harvesting declarations shall be transmitted by e-mail to the competent authorities of the farm Member State within 48 hours of the harvesting operation using the template set out in Annex XVb.