Marine Living Resources Act, 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998) 1. Definitions

 

In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

 

"aircraft"

means any craft capable of self-sustained movement through the atmosphere and includes a hovercraft;

 

"allowable commercial catch"

means that part of the total allowable catch available annually for commercial fishing rights in terms of section 14;

 

"aquatic plant"

means any kind of plant, algae or other plant organism found in the sea and in or on the seashore;

 

"commercial fishing"

means fishing for any of the species which have been determined by the Minister in terms of section 14 to be subject to the allowable commercial catch or total applied effort, or parts of both;

 

"Constitution"

means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996);

 

"Council"

means the Fisheries Transformation Council established in terms of section 29;

 

"court"

means a competent court of law;

 

"Department"

means the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism;

 

"Director-General"

means the Director-General of the Department;

 

"driftnet"

means a gillnet or other net or a combination of nets, the purpose of which is to enmesh, entrap or entangle fish by drifting on the surface of or in the water, irrespective of whether it is used or intended to be used while attached to any point of land or the seabed or to any vessel;

 

"driftnet fishing activities"

means fishing with the use of a driftnet and includes any related activities, including transporting, transshipping and processing any driftnet catch, and the provision of food, fuel and other supplies for vessels used or outfitted for driftnet fishing;

 

"exclusive economic zone"

means the exclusive economic zone as defined in section 7 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994 (Act No. 15 of 1994);

 

"fish"

means the marine living resources of the sea and the seashore, including any aquatic plant or animal whether piscine or not, and any mollusc, crustacean, coral, sponge, holothurian or other echinoderm, reptile and marine mammal, and includes their eggs, larvae and all juvenile stages, but does not include sea birds and seals;

 

"fish aggregating device"

means an artificially made or partially artificially made floating, submerged or semi-submerged device, whether anchored or not, intended to aggregate fish, including any natural floating object on which a device has been placed to facilitate its location;

 

"fisheries management area"

means a fisheries management area declared in terms of section 15(1);

 

"fishery"

means one or more stock or stocks of fish or any fishing operations based on such stocks which can be treated as a unit for purposes of conservation and management, taking into account geographical, scientific, technical, recreational, economic and other relevant characteristics;

 

"fishery control officer"

means any person appointed as a fishery control officer in terms of section 9;

 

"fishing"

means—

 

"fishing harbour"

means a declared fishing harbour contemplated in section 27(1);

 

"fishing vessel"

means any vessel, boat, ship or other craft which is used for, equipped to be used for or of a type that is normally used for fishing or related activities, and includes all gear, equipment, stores, cargo and fuel on board the vessel;

 

"fish processing establishment"

means any vehicle, vessel, premises or place where any substance or article is produced from fish by any method, including the work of cutting up, dismembering, separating parts of, cleaning, sorting, lining and preserving of fish, or where fish are canned, packed, dried, gutted, salted, iced, chilled, frozen or otherwise processed for sale in or outside the territory of the Republic;

 

"fish product"

means any product, whether in a processed form or not, wholly or partially derived from fish;

 

"foreign fishing vessel"

means any fishing vessel other than a local fishing vessel;

 

"foreign fishing vessel licence"

means a licence issued in terms of section 39(2);

 

"Forum"

means the Consultative Advisory Forum for Marine Living Resources established under section 5;

 

"Fund"

means the Marine Living Resources Fund referred to in section 10(1);

 

"gear"

means, in relation to fishing, any equipment, implement or other object that can be used in fishing, including any net, rope, line, float, trap, hook, winch, aircraft, boat or craft carried on board a vessel, aircraft or other craft;

 

"high seas"

means the waters beyond South African waters, but does not include waters subject to the particular jurisdiction of another state;

 

"high seas fishing vessel"

means a vessel in respect of which a high seas fishing vessel licence has been issued in terms of section 41(1);

 

"high seas fishing vessel licence"

means a licence issued in terms of section 41(1);

 

"internal waters"

means the internal waters as defined in section 3 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994;

 

"international conservation and management measures"

means measures to conserve or manage one or more species of marine living resources contained in international conventions, treaties or agreements, or that are adopted or applied in accordance with the relevant rules of international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, whether by global, regional or subregional fishery organisations and which measures are binding on the Republic in terms of international law;

 

"local fishing vessel"

means any fishing vessel registered in the Republic which is—

 

"local fishing vessel licence"

means a licence issued in terms of section 23(1);

 

"mariculture"

means the culture or husbandry of fish in sea water;

 

"master"

means, in relation to a vessel, aircraft or other craft, the person having lawful command or charge, or for the time being in charge, of the vessel, aircraft or other craft, as the case may be, including a person who has principal responsibility for fishing on board, but does not include a pilot aboard a fishing vessel solely for the purpose of providing navigational assistance;

 

"Minister"

means the Minister responsible for the Department;

 

"nautical mile"

means the international nautical mile of 1 852 metres;

 

"net"

means a fabric of rope, cord, twine or other material knotted or woven into meshes by which fish can be taken;

 

"observation device"

means any device or machine placed on a fishing vessel in terms of this Act as a condition of its licence which transmits, whether in conjunction with other machines elsewhere or not, information or data concerning the position and fishing activities of the vessel;

 

"observer"

means any person authorised in writing by the Director-General in terms of section 50 to perform scientific, compliance, monitoring and other similar observation duties on board a fishing vessel in accordance with this Act;

 

"organ of state"

means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution;

 

"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 or her own behalf or on behalf of another, including a person who is the owner jointly with one or more other persons and the manager, director, secretary, or other similar officer or any person purporting to act in such a capacity, of any body corporate or company which is an owner;

 

"permit"

means a permit contemplated in section 13;

 

"person"

includes a trust;

 

"prescribe"

means to prescribe by regulation;

 

"recreational fishing"

means, any fishing done for leisure or sport and not for sale, barter, earnings or gain;

 

"regulation"

means a regulation made and includes a notice issued under this Act;

 

"related activities"

include—

 

"right of access"

means a right of access to fish granted in terms of this Act;

 

"seashore"

means the sea-shore as defined in section 1 of the Sea-shore Act, 1935 (Act No. 21 of 1935);

 

"sedentary species"

means organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the seabed, or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or the subsoil;

 

"small-scale fisher"

means a member of a small-scale fishing community engaged in fishing to meet food and basic livelihood needs, or directly involved in processing or marketing of fish, who—

[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"small-scale fisheries sector"

means that sector of fishers who engage in small-scale fishing;

[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"small-scale fishing community"

means a group of persons who—

[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"South African person"

means—

[Definition substituted by section (1)(b), (c) and (d) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"South African waters"

means the seashore, internal waters, territorial waters, the exclusive economic zone, and in relation to the sedentary species as defined in Article 77 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the continental shelf as defined in section 7 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994, and such waters include tidal lagoons and tidal rivers in which a rise and fall of the water level takes place as a result of the tides;

 

"subsistence fisher"

[Definition deleted by section (1)(e) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"territorial waters"

means the territorial waters as defined in section 4 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994;

 

"this Act"

includes any regulation or notice made or issued under this Act;

 

"total allowable catch"

means the maximum quantity of fish of individual species or groups of species made available annually, or during such other period of time as may be prescribed, for combined recreational, small-scale, commercial and foreign fishing in terms of section 14;

[Definition substituted by section (1)(f) of Act No. 5 of 2014]

 

"total applied effort"

means the maximum number of fishing vessels, the type, size and engine power thereof or the fishing method applied thereby for which fishing vessel licences or permits to fish may be issued for individual species or groups of species, or the maximum number of persons on board a fishing vessel for which fishing licences or permits may be issued to fish individual species or groups of species;

 

"transship"

means transferring fish or gear from one vessel to another;

 

"trap"

means an enclosure, not being a net, that may be used to take fish;

 

"United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea"

means the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, adopted at Montego Bay on 10 December 1982;

 

"vessel"

includes any canoe, lighter, floating platform, decked boat, carrier vessel, vessel equipped with an inboard or outboard motor or any other craft, whether a surface craft or submarine;

 

"year"

means any period extending from a day in one year to a day preceding the day corresponding numerically to that day and month in the following year, both days inclusive.