FantasticSearch

1. Union fishing vessels shall bring on board any captured hard-shell sea turtle (family Cheloniidae) that is comatose or inactive, as soon as possible after capture, and shall foster its recovery, including giving it resuscitation, before returning it to the water. Masters and operators of Union fishing vessels shall ensure that the crew is aware of and uses proper mitigation and handling techniques.

2. Union purse seine vessels shall:

(a) avoid the encirclement of sea turtles and, if a sea turtle is unintentionally encircled or entangled, take practicable measures to safely release the turtle;

(b) release all sea turtles observed to be entangled in FADs or fishing gear;

(c) if a sea turtle is entangled in a net, ensure that the net roll is stopped as soon as the turtle comes out of the water, that the turtle is disentangled without injuring it before resuming the net roll and, to the extent practicable, assist the recovery of the turtle before returning it to the water;

(d) carry and employ dip nets, when appropriate, to handle turtles.

3. Union longline vessels that fish in a shallow-set manner shall use at least one of the following methods to mitigate the capture of sea turtles:

(a) the use of only large circle hooks, which are fishing hooks that are generally circular or oval in shape and which are originally designed and manufactured so that the point is turned perpendicularly back to the shank. These hooks shall have an offset not exceeding 10 degrees;

(b) the use of only finfish for bait;

(c) the use of any other measure, mitigation plan or activity that has been reviewed by the WCPFC Scientific Committee and the WCPFC Technical and Compliance Committee and approved by the WCPFC as being capable to reduce the interaction rate (observed numbers per hooks fished) of turtles in shallow-set longline fisheries.

4. Paragraph 3 shall not apply to shallow-set longline fisheries in which the observed mean sea turtle interaction rates are lower than 0,019 sea turtles (all species combined) per 1 000 hooks over the preceding three consecutive years and the level of observer coverage is of at least 10 % during each of those three years.