Marine Living Resources Act, 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998)1. Definitions |
In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—
means any craft capable of self-sustained movement through the atmosphere and includes a hovercraft;
means that part of the total allowable catch available annually for commercial fishing rights in terms of section 14;
means any kind of plant, algae or other plant organism found in the sea and in or on the seashore;
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;
means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act No. 108 of 1996);
means the Fisheries Transformation Council established in terms of section 29;
means a competent court of law;
means the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism;
means the Director-General of the Department;
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;
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;
means the exclusive economic zone as defined in section 7 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994 (Act No. 15 of 1994);
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;
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;
means a fisheries management area declared in terms of section 15(1);
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;
means any person appointed as a fishery control officer in terms of section 9;
means—
| (a) | searching for, catching, taking or harvesting fish or an attempt to any such activity; |
| (b) | engaging in any other activity which can reasonably be expected to result in the locating, catching, taking or harvesting of fish; |
| (c) | placing, searching for or recovering any fish aggregating device or associated gear, including radio beacons; |
| (d) | any operation in support or in preparation of any activity described in this definition; or |
| (e) | the use of an aircraft in relation to any activity described in this definition; |
means a declared fishing harbour contemplated in section 27(1);
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;
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;
means any product, whether in a processed form or not, wholly or partially derived from fish;
means any fishing vessel other than a local fishing vessel;
means a licence issued in terms of section 39(2);
means the Consultative Advisory Forum for Marine Living Resources established under section 5;
means the Marine Living Resources Fund referred to in section 10(1);
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;
means the waters beyond South African waters, but does not include waters subject to the particular jurisdiction of another state;
means a vessel in respect of which a high seas fishing vessel licence has been issued in terms of section 41(1);
means a licence issued in terms of section 41(1);
means the internal waters as defined in section 3 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994;
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;
means any fishing vessel registered in the Republic which is—
| (a) | wholly owned and controlled by one or more South African persons; |
| (b) | wholly owned by the State; |
| (c) | wholly owned and controlled by any body corporate, society or other association of persons incorporated or established under the laws of the Republic and in which the majority of the shares and the voting rights are held and controlled by South African persons; or |
| (d) | wholly owned by a body corporate designated as an authorised body corporate by the Minister; |
means a licence issued in terms of section 23(1);
means the culture or husbandry of fish in sea water;
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;
means the Minister responsible for the Department;
means the international nautical mile of 1 852 metres;
means a fabric of rope, cord, twine or other material knotted or woven into meshes by which fish can be taken;
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;
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;
means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution;
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;
means a permit contemplated in section 13;
includes a trust;
means to prescribe by regulation;
means, any fishing done for leisure or sport and not for sale, barter, earnings or gain;
means a regulation made and includes a notice issued under this Act;
include—
| (a) | storing, buying, selling, transshipping, processing or transporting of fish or any fish product taken from South African waters up to the time it is first landed or in the course of high seas fishing; |
| (b) | on-shore storing, buying, selling or processing of fish or any fish product from the time it is first landed; |
| (c) | refuelling or supplying fishing vessels, selling or supplying fishing equipment or performing any other act in support of fishing; |
| (d) | exporting and importing fish or any fish product; or |
| (e) | engaging in the business of providing agency, consultancy or other similar services for and in relation to fishing or a related activity; |
means a right of access to fish granted in terms of this Act;
means the sea-shore as defined in section 1 of the Sea-shore Act, 1935 (Act No. 21 of 1935);
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;
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—
| (a) | traditionally operate in near-shore fishing grounds; |
| (b) | predominantly employ traditional low technology or passive fishing gear; |
| (c) | undertake single day fishing trips; and |
| (d) | is engaged in consumption, barter or sale of fish or otherwise involved in commercial activity, all within the small-scale fisheries sector, and "small-scale fishing" must be interpreted accordingly; |
[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]
means that sector of fishers who engage in small-scale fishing;
[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]
means a group of persons who—
| (i) | are, or historically have been, small-scale fishers; |
| (ii) | have shared aspirations and historical interests or rights in small-scale fishing; |
| (iii) | have a history of shared small-scale fishing and who are, but for the impact of forced removals, tied to particular waters or geographic area, and were or still are operating where they previously enjoyed access to fish, or continue to exercise their rights in a communal manner in terms of an agreement, custom or law; and |
| (iv) | regard themselves as a small-scale fishing community; |
[Definition inserted by section (1)(a) of Act No. 5 of 2014]
means—
| (a) | a South African citizen in terms of the South African Citizenship Act, 1995 (Act No. 88 of 1995); |
| (b) | a company registered in terms of the Companies Act, 1973 (Act No. 61 of 1973), of which the majority of shareholders, as prescribed by the Minister, are South African persons; |
| (c) | a close corporation in terms of the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (Act No. 69 of 1984), of which the majority of members are South African persons; |
| (d) | a trust in which— |
| (i) | the majority of trustees having the controlling power at any given time are South African citizens; or |
| (ii) | a majority of the beneficial interests are held by South African citizens; or |
| (e) | a co-operative registered in terms of the Co-operatives Act, 2005 (Act No. 14 of 2005), of which all the members are South African citizens but, where any member is a juristic person, such person's principal place of business must be in the Republic; |
[Definition substituted by section (1)(b), (c) and (d) of Act No. 5 of 2014]
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;
[Definition deleted by section (1)(e) of Act No. 5 of 2014]
means the territorial waters as defined in section 4 of the Maritime Zones Act, 1994;
includes any regulation or notice made or issued under this Act;
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]
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;
means transferring fish or gear from one vessel to another;
means an enclosure, not being a net, that may be used to take fish;
means the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982, adopted at Montego Bay on 10 December 1982;
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;
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.