Fisheries Act 1997

(4) The Authority shall as appropriate adopt and apply the following general principles in relation to fisheries management: (b) adopt, where necessary, conservation and management measures for species belonging to the same ecosystem or associated with or dependent upon the target stocks, with a view to maintaining or restoring populations of such species above levels at which their reproduction may become seriously threatened;

(2) In determining the allocations of participatory rights in the fishery, the Authority shall take into consideration the following in addition to requirements of Subsection (2): (e) whether there has been compliance, while in the waters under national jurisdiction of any other State in the region, with the terms of any fisheries management agreement to which the Republic of the Marshall Islands is party and which is implemented in such other State.

Commercial shark fishing is hereby prohibited as a target fishery in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Fisheries waters.[new part and section inserted by P.L.2011-63]

(1) No person shall catch, capture or intentionally engage in fishing for shark or any part thereof or intentionally remove the fins or tail of any shark or otherwise mutilate or injure any shark within the land or fisheries waters of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1): (a) A person who holds a license or permit from the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority to conduct research on sharks and carries out activities in accordance with that license or permit; (b) A person fishing for shark for subsistence use is permitted, provided that no person shall harvest shark that has been declared as protected species. The Authority may make Regulation imposing restrictions or catch limit on all or certain species; (c) Any purse seiner, long-liner or carrier or other support vessels in possession of shark or shark fins or any other parts of shark, caught outside of the fishery waters of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, provided that the shark or shark fins or any other parts of shark shall be: (i) validated by catch records or relevant transfer documentation, if transhipped; and (ii) reported together with an entry notice prior to the entry into the Republic of the Marshall Islands fisheries waters. (d) In the case where a purse seiner inadvertently caught or captured any shark, the purse seiner shall act to immediately release, as soon as such event is recognized, whether the shark is dead or alive. For the purpose of this section, ‚such event‛ means the selective removal and release of sharks when visibly identified within the catch during transhipment. (3) No person shall, receive, transfer, transship or trade any shark, shark fins or any other parts of shark, whilst in the RMI waters including ports. For the purpose of this subsection it shall be a rebuttable presumption that if any shark or any part of a shark is found aboard a vessel, the shark, or part of a shark, is deemed possessed or transferred in violation of this subsection. (4) The presumption above may be rebutted upon satisfactory proof that shark or part of shark found onboard was caught outside RMI Fishery Waters, and validated in accordance with subsection (2), paragraph (c) above. (5) No person, operator, or fishing vessel licensed to fish in the fishery waters of the Marshall Islands shall have fishing gear or equipment constructed or manufactured with trace wire, use or caused to use a trace wire. The Authority may make regulations and fishing license