CCSBT Catch Documentation Scheme Instruction Sheets: Information for Licensed Fish Recievers

The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) is the regional fisheries management organisation responsible for the sustainable use of southern bluefin tuna. CCSBT adopted a finalised Catch Documentation Scheme in October 2009.

• To gain better information on total global catches of southern bluefin tuna, including fish that is exported as well as fish that is sold domestically;
• To provide a source of cross-checks for reported catch information (i.e. independent reports from exporters and importers, or from domestic sellers and domestic buyers);
• To help prevent illegally-caught fish from entering the market (because each individual whole fish will have a unique tag attached to it; CCSBT member countries and other participating states will not accept a whole fish into the market unless it has a valid tag);
• To collect additional scientific information to help with management of the stock.

Key features of the CDS:

• The CDS covers ALL catches of southern bluefin tuna by members and cooperating non-members of CCSBT – i.e. New Zealand, Japan, Australia, Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa, European Union and the Philippines (the main countries fishing for southern bluefin);
• The scheme applies to ALL commercially-caught southern bluefin tuna, including:
  • all exports of southern bluefin tuna; and
  • all southern bluefin tuna sold to domestic buyers
• The CDS has two main components –
  • Tagging – every legally-caught southern bluefin tuna is tagged with a special tag; controls in the market place ensure that only legally-caught fish can be sold. Fishers are responsible for ensuring they have tagged all southern bluefin tuna they catch, with tags supplied by the Ministry of Fisheries.
  • Catch documents: a form that is filled out when the fish is caught, and includes information on volumes exported, imported, and sold on domestic markets. In most instances Licensed Fish Receivers are responsible for filling out catch documents.
• There are two main forms – a Catch Monitoring Form and a Catch Tagging Form (a new form that collects information on individual fish, including lengths and weights).

For licensed fish receivers, your role under the scheme includes:

• Fishers (permit holders) or Licensed Fish Receivers will need to apply a tag to every southern bluefin tuna. The Ministry of Fisheries will provide these tags. In most cases, the fisher will tag the fish, but if they don’t have a tag then the LFR will need to do this.
• The tag is an essential component of the CDS. Without this tag, southern bluefin tuna will no longer be accepted into markets of member states. Additional instructions for applying the tag are provided below.
• The CDS applies only to SOUTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA. It is critical that the fish are identified correctly. For example, if a fish identified as a bigeye tuna is sent to Japan and Japanese officials identify it is a southern bluefin tuna, there may well be a problem getting the fish into the market, since it will not have the required tag or form. Please note also that Japan has a genetic testing programme in place for tuna imports.
• Catch Tagging Forms record information about the tagged fish. This is an important part of the scheme, because it collects information about individual fish, to help with management of the fishery (please note domestic catch reporting requirements will stay the same). Catch Tagging Forms:
  • Will record information about each individual southern bluefin tuna caught, including:
    • The tag number
    • When the fish was caught
    • The vessel that caught the fish
    • The length and weight of each fish
• Catch Monitoring Forms have replaced the form previously used for the Trade Information Scheme. The form looks different, but the information it collects is basically the same. In general, Licensed Fish Receivers are responsible for filling out this form. As for the Trade Information Scheme, this form will need to be validated by an Authorised Validator who has, amongst other things, been approved by the Ministry of Fisheries.
• The Catch/harvest section should always be filled out. For exports, the Export part of the Intermediate Product Destination Section should be completed. For domestic sales, please fill out the buyer’s information in the ‘Landing of domestic product for domestic sale’ part of the Final Product Destination section (see also Domestic sales and the CDS below).
• The Catch Monitoring Form is in triplicate. Once you have filled the information out, include the top copy of the completed documentation with the fish shipment; send the 2nd copy to the Ministry of Fisheries (address below) and retain the bottom copy for your own records
• Forms should be sent to:
  
  HMS team
  Ministry of Fisheries
  PO Box 19747
  Auckland

Download example catch monitoring form (PDF 352KB)

Download example catch tagging form (PDF 1.7MB)

Domestic sales and the CDS

The Catch Documentation Scheme applies to both exports AND domestic sales. For a domestic sale, please fill out the Catch/harvest section and ensure this information is validated. You will then need to fill in the details of the buyer in the ‘Landing of domestic product for domestic sale’ part of the Final Product Destination section, and obtain a signature from the buyer. For ease of reporting (since a completed copy of the form with both seller and domestic buyer information must be sent to MFish), it is recommended that you retain the catch monitoring form and just get a signature from the buyer on the form, rather than handing over the form.

Applying the southern bluefin tuna tag

Below are some instructions supplied by the manufacturer of the tag. In the example given, the tags are being applied to a fish that will be frozen. When applying to fresh fish, because the fish are processed differently you might need to apply the tag slightly differently from what is shown here. The important thing is to apply the tag so that it will remain fastened to the fish, and so the tag information (i.e. tag number) can be easily read.
The tags will be different colours each year, to allow for ready identification in the market-place. The tag used in 2010 was beige; in 2011 the tag will be green.



Questions? Contact the Highly Migratory Species team in the Auckland office of the Ministry of Fisheries, (09) 820 1990