Fisheries Management Act 1998

(1) No person shall - (a) use, permit to be used or attempt to use any - (i) chemical, poison or noxious substance or material whether of manufactured or natural origin; or (ii) dynamite or explosive substance or device, for the purpose of killing, taking, stunning, stupefying or disabling fish or in any way rendering fish more easily caught; or (b) carry, permit to be carried, possess or control any - (i) chemical, poison or noxious substance or material whether of manu- factured or natural origin; or (ii) dynamite or explosive substance or device, in circumstances which indicate the intention of its use for any of the purposes referred to in Paragraph (a); or (c) (2) No person shall - (a) land, display for sale, sell, deal in, transport, receive or possess any fish or fish product taken by any means which contravenes this section; or (b) knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that any fish or fish product has been taken in contravention of this section, fail or refuse to give, on request, to any authorized officer information regarding - (i) any activity described in Subsection (1), or any support of or contribution to such activity; or (ii) the source of his supply of any fish or fish product referred to in Paragraph (a). (3) Any person who contravenes Subsection (1) or (2) commits an offense. (4) In any proceedings for an offense against this section, a certificate in writing stating the cause of death or injury of any fish, issued in accordance with Section 67, shall be prima facie evidence of that fact. (5) For the purposes of this section, any explosive, poison or other noxious substance found on board any fishing vessel shall be presumed to be intended for the purposes referred to in Subsection (1)(a). (6) All fish or fish products seized under this section shall be confiscated, and any vessel or vehicle used to transport such fish or fish products may be confiscated, and disposed of in such manner as the Managing Director determines. (7) For the purposes of this section, the terms “chemicals”, “noxious materials”, “poisonous” and “substance” include but are not limited to hypochlorus acid or any of its salts, including bleaches commonly sold under various trade names such as Clorox and Purex, and bleaching powders, preparations containing rotenone, tephrosin or plant material from Barrington asiatica, Coculus ferrandianus, Hera crepitans, Piscidia erythrina, Tephrosia purpurea and Wikstremia.

The Authority shall, in respect of highly migratory fish stocks which occur both in the fisheries waters and in the high seas, and without prejudice to the sovereign rights and special requirements of Papua New Guinea as a developing coastal State, have authority to cooperate with States fishing on the high seas in respect of such stocks for the purpose of achieving compatible conservation and management measures.

(1) An observer programme shall be established by the Authority for the purpose of collecting and reporting reliable and accurate information for scientific, management, and compliance purposes including - (a) the species, quantity, size, age, and condition of fish, taken; and (b) the methods by which, the areas in which, and the depths at which, fish are taken; and (c) the effects of fishing methods on fish, and the environment; and (d) all aspects of the operation of any vessel; and (e) processing, transportation, transhipment, storage, or disposal of any fish; and (f) any other matter that may assist the Managing Director to obtain, analyse, or verify information for the purposes of fisheries scientific, management, and compliance purposes. (2) The Managing Director may give directions to each observer in accordance with the purposes of the observer programme, including placing an observer on any vessel used for fishing, transhipment, and the transportation and landing of fish.

(1) The Managing Director may appoint a person to be an observer for the purposes of the observer programme under Section 50. (2) The person appointed under Subsection (1) may be appointed on such terms and conditions as specified under this Part and on such other terms and conditions as may be approved by the Managing Director. (3) An observer shall on request identify himself and produce evidence that he is an observer, and the production by any observer of any identification document issued to him shall, until the contrary is proved, be sufficient authority for any such observer to do anything which he is authorized by this Act to do.

(1) The operator and each crew member of any vessel, or licence holder in respect of any vessel, on which an observer is placed, shall allow and assist the observer to - (a) board such vessel at such time and place as the Managing Director may require; and (b) have full access to and the use of facilities, gear and equipment on board the vessel which the observer may determine is necessary to carry out his duties, including - (i) any fish on board the vessel which may be used to hold, process, weigh and store fish; and (ii) the bridge and the communications and navigation equipment of the vessel; and (iii) the documents and records, including all logbooks of the vessel, whether required to be carried and maintained under this Act or otherwise for purposes including record inspection and copying; and (c) receive and transmit messages and communicate with the shore and other vessels by means of the vessel’s communications equipment; and (d) take, measure, remove from the vessel and retain samples or whole specimens of any fish; and (e) store samples and whole specimens on the vessel, including samples and whole specimens held in the vessel’s freezing facilities; and (f) take photographs of the fishing operations, including fish, gear, equipment, documents, charts and records, and remove from the vessel such photographs or film as he may have taken or used on board the vessel; and (g) disembark at such time and place as the Managing Director may require or in accordance with an applicable access agreement; and (h) carry out all duties safely. (2) Any operator of a vessel licensed under this Act shall allow and assist an observer to have full access to any place in Papua New Guinea where fish taken from the fisheries waters is unloaded or transhipped, to remove reasonable samples for scientific purposes and to gather any other information relating to fisheries waters, and provision in Subsection (1) shall apply to in such circumstances mutatis mutandis.

(1) The owner or operator of any vessel, or licence holder in respect of any vessel, on which an observer is placed, shall provide food. (2) owner or operator of any vessel, on which an observer is to be placed shall, in addition to any other fees or charges required under this Act, provide to the Authority in respect of such observer, and in advance of his placement, for the duration of his duties in respect of such vessel - (a) insurance coverage; and (b) salary; and (c) allowances; and (d) all travel and associated expenses to and from the vessel; and (e) other costs associated with management of the observer programme, at a level to be approved by the Managing Director.

(1) Before placing any observer on a vessel, the Managing Director shall give the operator or licence holder, of or in respect of the vessel, reasonable notice of his intention to place observers on the vessel. (2) Upon receipt of a notice given under Subsection (1), no person shall cause or allow the vessel to which the notice relates to put to sea without having on board any observer specified in such notice.

(1) The operator of a foreign fishing vessel shall - (a) not tranship at sea under any circumstance; and (b) provide such notice and other reports as may be prescribed or required by the Managing Director from time to time; and (c) only tranship at a designated port authorized for transhipment and on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed or required in accordance with this Act. (2) Any vessel used in contravention of Subsection (1) may be subject to forfeiture in accordance with Section 61.

“fishing master” means the person in charge or apparently in charge or for the time being in charge of the fishing activities of a fishing vessel.

“operator” means any person who is in charge of, responsible for the operations of, directs or controls a vessel, including the owner, charterer and master and includes the beneficiary of the economic or financial benefit of the vessel’s operations.

“owner” means any person exercising or discharging or claiming the right or accepting the obligation to exercise or discharge any of the powers or duties of an owner whether on his own behalf or on behalf of another, and includes a person who is the owner jointly with one or more other persons and any manager, director and secretary of any corporation which is an owner.

“person” means any natural person or business enterprise and includes a corporation, partnership, cooperative, association, the government of Papua New Guinea or any of its subdivisions or agencies and any foreign government, its subdivisions or agents.

(1) The Board may, upon the recommendation of the Managing Director, grant licences in accordance with this Act for any purposes which may be prescribed. (2) Upon a decision by the Board to grant a licence, the Managing Director shall issue such licence, which shall be subject to such terms and conditions required under Section 42 or otherwise authorized under this Act. (3) Each licence shall be issued on a form approved by the Managing Director.

An application for a licence shall be made in accordance with such procedures and other requirements as may be approved from time to time by the Managing Director.

(3) The operator of each licensed vessel shall be subject to and ensure compliance with the following licence terms and conditions:- (h) compliance with all laws of Papua New Guinea, the terms and conditions of any applicable licence and any applicable access agreement; (j) that there is full compliance with such other licence terms and conditions as may be prescribed or otherwise specified in accordance with this Act, and failure to comply fully with any of these conditions may result in suspension or cancellation of the licence in accordance with this Act, in addition to any penalty that may be imposed.

(1) A licence granted under this Act - (a) may be subject to such terms, conditions and endorsements as are imposed by the 
Board from time to time; and (b) subject to Subsection (6), comes into force on a date specified in it; and (c) subject to this section, remains in force, until the day on which it expires in 
accordance with the period approved by the Board from time to time for the class of licence to which it belongs, unless sooner revoked or suspended in accordance with this Act; and (d) may be subject to a performance bond issued in accordance with regulations made under this Act for an amount specified in the licence; and (e) shall be subject to the licence fee prescribed for that class of licence.
(2) Licences for vessels shall be subject to the terms and conditions specified in Subsections (3), (4) and (5) and any applicable access agreement. (3) The operator of each licensed vessel shall be subject to and ensure compliance with the following licence terms and conditions:- (a) the vessel shall at all times fly its national flag; (b) the vessel shall hold a valid registration issued by the flag State and shall not be registered in any other State; (c) the vessel shall display markings in accordance with approval given by the Managing Director; (d) the continuous monitoring of the international distress and call frequency 2182 
Khz (HF), and the international safety and calling frequency 156.8 MHz (channel 16, VHF-FM) to facilitate communication with the Authority; (e) that a recent and up-to-date copy of the International Code of Signals (INTECO) is carried on board and accessible at all times; (f) that a recent and up-to-date set of charts showing Papua New Guinea fisheries waters is carried on board at all times; (g) that such position-fixing, identification and vessel monitoring system equipment 
as may be required is installed, maintained and fully operational at all times as may be required; (h) compliance with all laws of Papua New Guinea, the terms and conditions of any applicable licence and any applicable access agreement; (i) compliance with all relevant provisions of national law relating to navigational standards and the safety of vessels at sea; (j) that there is full compliance with such other licence terms and conditions as may be prescribed or otherwise specified in accordance with this Act, and failure to comply fully with any of these conditions may result in suspension or cancellation of the licence in accordance with this Act, in addition to any penalty that may be imposed. (4) A licensed vessel shall carry the original copy of the licence on board the vessel at all times during the licence period and it shall be the responsibility of the Master to produce it to a Fishery Officer upon the request, and failure to comply with this condition or any part of it on more than two occasions may result in forfeiture of the vessel in accordance with Section 61, in addition to any penalty that may be imposed, provided that a faxed copy of a licence may be carried in circumstances where it has not been practical for the original to be placed on board the vessel. (5) A licensed vessel shall be operated in such a way that customary fishing activities are not disrupted or any way adversely affected. (6) Notwithstanding Subsection (1)(b) and (d), a licence shall not come into force unless the approved licence fee has been paid, and, where applicable, a performance bond has been issued. (7) Registers showing particulars of the licences granted under this Division and in force from time to time shall be kept in such manner and at such places as the Managing Director directs.

(1) A person whose application for a license has been refused by the Board may appeal to the Minister. (2) An appeal under this section shall be made in writing within 30 days of the date of refusal of the application. (3) In the exercise of his power to determine an appeal, the Minister shall convene a meeting of the Licence Appeals Committee. (4) The Licence Appeals Committee shall comprise a Magistrate at Grade 5 level, the Departmental Head of the Department responsible for transport matters and the Departmental Head of the Department responsible for provincial affairs matters or their nominees. (5) The License Appeals Committee shall receive a status report of the appeal from the Executive Director, and shall consider the appeal, with the view to arriving at a decision on the appeal. (6) A decision of the License Appeals Committee shall be presented to the Minister for his consideration and the Minister shall thereafter make a decision as to whether the appeal be accepted or rejected. (7) The decision of the Minister under Subsection (6) is final. (8) The Managing Director shall give effect to the decision of the Minister.

Where the terms of an access agreement authorizes an administrator to issue a licence for fishing in accordance with its terms in the fisheries waters, or a part oft he fisheries waters, and a valid and applicable licence has been duly issued by such administrator, the vessel is deemed to be licensed under this Act and according to the terms of the access agreement and the licence.

(1) A person who, without a valid and applicable licence - (a) on his own account, or as the partner, agent or employee of another person, engages in; or (b) causes or permits a person acting on his behalf to engage in; or (c) uses a vessel to engage in fishing or a related activity; or (d) engages in any activity, of a kind or type, or at a time, or in a place or manner, for which a licence is required under this Act, commits an offense. (2) A person who holds a valid and applicable licence and who -
(a) on his own account, or as the partner, agent or employee of another person, engages in; or (b) causes or permits a person acting on his behalf to engage in; or (c) uses a vessel to engage in fishing or a related activity; or (d) engages in any activity, which does not comply with the terms and conditions of such licence, commits an offense. (3) For the purposes of this section, where a person is charged for an act or omission done by an employee or other agent, the act or omission shall be deemed to have also been done by the person charged for the offense. (4) Section 25(1) of the Criminal Code (Chapter 252) is not a defence to a prosecution for an offense under this section.

(2) In addition to the conditions specified in Subsection (1) the licence issued to a subject to an access agreement under this Act shall contain, in addition to any terms and conditions that may be approved, the following terms:- (e) the operator shall, where required in accordance with this Act, carry on board any automatic location communicator and other specified machinery or equipment necessary for the operation of a vessel monitoring system in respect of the vessel;