Fisheries (Southern Bluefin Tuna Catch Documentation Scheme) Regulations 2017.

These regulations, consisting of 28 sections and two Schedules, apply in relation to commercial fishing against New Zealand’s national allocation of southern bluefin tuna by New Zealand nationals or by New Zealand ships, whether within or outside New Zealand fisheries waters. These regulations do not apply in relation to: a) recreational fishing for southern bluefin tuna; b) Māori non-commercial customary fishing for southern bluefin tuna; or c) southern bluefin tuna that is returned to the waters from which it was taken in accordance with the requirements set out in Schedule 6 of the Fisheries Act 1996. The regulations give effect to the Resolution on the Implementation of a CCSBT Catch Documentation Scheme adopted by the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna in 2009. They establish a catch tagging and documentation scheme for commercial fishing against New Zealand’s national allocation of southern bluefin tuna by New Zealand nationals and New Zealand ships, whether within or outside New Zealand fisheries waters.
The regulations require the chief executive of the Ministry for Primary Industries to issue tags to persons who fish for southern bluefin tuna (permit holders) and to licensed fish receivers who receive southern bluefin tuna. Permit holders are required to tag, weigh, and measure tuna that they catch. However, if a licensed fish receiver receives tuna that has not been tagged, weighed, or measured, then the licensed fish receiver must tag, weigh, or measure the tuna. The regulations prohibit the removal of a tag from a southern bluefin tuna that has not been filleted or loined (a whole southern bluefin tuna). The regulations require the chief executive to approve forms to be used for the purposes of these regulations. Licensed fish receivers and persons who export southern bluefin tuna must complete the forms and provide them to the chief executive. In some cases, the forms must be validated by a person authorised to do so by the chief executive. The regulations prohibit the sale of whole southern bluefin tuna that does not have a tag attached, except in the case of a person who catches southern bluefin tuna as bycatch. In that case, the person may sell the tuna to a licensed fish receiver.