Algal Bloom: A rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system, often resulting in a discoloration of the water surface.
Aquaculture: The farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants under controlled conditions, contrasting with commercial fishing.
Aquatic animals: Animals that live in water throughout or for most of their life.
Aquatic plants: Plants that live, grow, or are often found in water.
Artisanal Fishing: Small-scale fishing practices involving fishing households using relatively small amount of capital and energy, often subsistence in nature.
Benthic: Relating to or occurring on the bottom of a water body.
Bycatch: The unintentional capture of non-target species while fishing for specific species. This includes fish, crustaceans, and marine mammals caught unintentionally.
Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE): A measure of how many fish are caught per a unit of effort, such as the number of fish caught by a fishing ship per day.
Chumming: The practice of luring animals, usually fish such as sharks, by throwing "chum" into the water. Chum is bait consisting of fish parts, bone and blood, which attract fish, particularly sharks owing to their keen sense of smell.
Demersal: Fish species that live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes.
Diadromous fish: Fish that migrate between the sea and fresh water for spawning purposes.
Dredge Fishing: A fishing method that involves dragging a dredge across the sea floor to scoop up shellfish such as clams and scallops.
Ecosystem Approach: A strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way.
Eutrophication: An increase in chemical nutrients — typically compounds containing nitrogen or phosphorus — in an aquatic ecosystem. Eutrophication can result in oxygen depletion of the water body.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): A sea zone over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, stretching from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from its coast.
Fish Aggregating Device (FAD): A man-made object used to attract ocean-going pelagic fish such as marlin and tuna. They float on the surface or are anchored at the bottom.
Fish diseases: Illnesses and infections found in fish, which can significantly impact fish populations and aquaculture operations.
Fish products: Products derived from fish, including food items and by-products like fish oil and fish meal.
Fishery management and conservation: Practices and policies designed to regulate fishing activities and protect fish resources for sustainable use.
Fishery: A geographic area where fish are caught or a group of fish caught by fishing.
Fishing area: Regions where fish are harvested, can be specific to wild fisheries or designated aquaculture areas.
Fishing authorization: Legal permission to engage in fishing activities within a specified area under defined conditions.
Fishing charge: Fees or levies imposed on the act of fishing to manage resource use and conservation efforts.
Fishing gear/fishing method: Tools and techniques used to catch fish.
Gear Modification: Changes made to fishing gear to reduce bycatch and improve selectivity in catching target species.
Gillnet: A net that is placed vertically in the water column where fish become entangled by their gills in the mesh.
Hatchery: A facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It can include facilities for breeding parents.
Hydroacoustics: The use of underwater sound equipment in the study or mapping of underwater geology, also used in fishery research for stock assessment.
Ichthyology: The branch of zoology that deals with fishes.
Illegal unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing): Fishing activities that do not comply with national, regional, or global fisheries conservation laws and regulations.
Inland fisheries: Fishing activities conducted in freshwater bodies like rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.
Invasive Species: Species that do not naturally occur in a specific area and have been introduced and caused harm to the natural ecosystem.
Larviculture: The culture or farming of fish and shellfish larvae.
Mariculture: A specialized branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms in their natural habitats, usually for commercial purposes.
Marine fisheries: Fisheries located in ocean environments, as opposed to freshwater fisheries.
Mollusk: A diverse group of invertebrates that live in aquatic or damp habitats and includes snails, clams, and squid.
Net Pen: A type of aquaculture enclosure placed in a lake, river, or ocean to confine fish such as salmon, allowing them to be more easily fed and harvested.
Nutrient Cycling: The circulation of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from the environment through organisms and back to the environment, essential for maintaining productive aquatic ecosystems.
Ocean Acidification: A reduction in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
Overfishing: Catching too many fish at once, which can deplete or eradicate a population of fish.
Pelagic: Fish species that live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters – being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore.
Phytoplankton: Microscopic marine algae that dwell in the upper sunlit layer of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water on earth.
Protected fishing area: Designated areas where fishing activities are restricted or regulated to protect biodiversity and manage fish stocks.
Recreational Fishing: Fishing for pleasure or competition, rather than for survival or commercial gain.
Seine Net: A fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with floats on the top and weights on the bottom, used to encircle fish.
Stock Assessment: The process of collecting and analyzing biological and statistical data to predict the status of fishery stocks.
Sustainable Fisheries: Fisheries that are managed to maintain or increase output indefinitely without damaging the ecosystem.
Tidal Current: Water movement caused by the tides, an essential factor in determining the accessibility of different species to different types of fishing gear.
Trawl Net: A large net, towed behind a boat to catch fish, that can be pulled along the sea floor or at various depths above the seabed.
Underwater Habitat: The environment in which an aquatic species lives, grows, and reproduces.
Upwelling: An oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water.
Vector Control: Managing animals and insects that transmit disease pathogens, including those that can affect fish populations.
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS): A satellite-based monitoring system which at regular intervals provides data to fisheries authorities on the location, course, and speed of fishing vessels.
Water Quality: The chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, which influence natural and artificial aquatic ecosystems.
Wild Stock: Populations of organisms that live in natural environments without direct human involvement in their reproduction.
Xerophyte: A species of plant that has adapted to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as deserts or icy conditions.
Year-class Strength: The relative measure of the reproductive success of a fish species in a given year, which affects the future availability of the species for harvesting.
Zooplanktivore: An animal that feeds on zooplankton as a major part of its diet.
Zooplankton: Small floating or weakly swimming animals that drift with water currents and are an important food source for many marine animals.
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- allowable commercial catch: allowable commercial catch means that part of the total allowable catch available annually for commercial fishing ;
aquaculture – (a) means the cultivation, propagation or farming of freshwater and saltwater fish and any other aquatic organism; and (b) includes (i) fish farming; (ii) the cultivation, propagation or farming from eggs, spawn, spat or seed, or by rearing fish taken from the wild or imported into Mauritius, or by other similar process; (iii) the collecting and holding of live fish, under controlled conditions for the purposes of trade, business or research; and (iv) both inland aquaculture and mariculture in the marine environment;
aquatic organism – (a) means any aquatic plant or animal, or other living organisms in the marine or aquatic environment, including bacteria and viruses; (b) includes any fish, crustacean, mollusc, coral, echinoderm, or aquatic reptile or aquatic mammal and its shell, eggs, body parts or other naturally occurring products; but (c) does not include birds;
artisanal fisher means a fisher who carries out fishing or fishing related activities up to 15 nautical miles from the baseline of the maritime zones of Mauritius;
artisanal fishing vessel means a fishing vessel of less than 12 metres in length overall which – (a) may be used for fishing or fishing related activities up to 15 nautical miles from the baseline of the maritime zones of Mauritius; and (b) is registered in the name of an artisanal fisher or a person or company that is authorised to register the vessel;
bank fisher means a fisher who carries out fishing or fishing related activities on the fishing banks of Mauritius;
barachois means a pond which is within or adjacent to the sea and enclosed by a weir or dam through which the sea flows and reflows;
basket trap means a trap which has meshes of such size which allows a cylinder measuring not less than 4 cm in diameter to pass through;
bioprospecting – (a) means the systematic search for and development of new sources of chemical compounds, genes, micro-organisms, macro-organisms, and other valuable products from fish; and (b) includes the search for economically valuable genetic and biochemical resources from fish;
bycatch – (a) means fish harvested in a fishery but which – (i) are not the species of fish that are directly targeted or appear to be directly targeted; (ii) belong to any species not identified as bycatch in an applicable licence or plan of management for a fishery; and (iii) belong to any species not identified in an applicable licence or plan of management for a fishery except for the species falling under subparagraph (i); and (b) includes – (i) discards; (ii) non-target species identified by any international conservation and management measure, applicable licence or fisheries management plan; (iii) undersized or juvenile individuals or the prohibited sex of the target species; (iv) species which are incidentally affected by interacting with fishing equipment in the fishery, but are not taken; and (v) those components of the target species of industrial fisheries that are rejected, inter alia, because – (A) the sizes are too small for canning or other external markets; or (B) of the heavy metal content of larger fish, damage during hauling, depredation or rejection of target species by primary markets for other quality concerns;
canard net means a net which is – (a) used in conjunction with a large net for catching mullets and which does not exceed 100 metres in length and 5 metres in width when mounted; and (b) made of several layers of nets fitted with poles to maintain the whole net afloat on the surface of water and the meshes of any of the layers are not less than 9 cm when stretched diagonally;
carlet net means a net in the shape of a bag with meshes of any size, the mouth of which is kept open by a hoop not exceeding one metre in diameter, and is an unlicensed net used for fishing crab carlet;
cast net means a conical net, with weights attached to the open circumference of the base and having meshes measuring not less than 9 cm when stretched diagonally and when the net is wet;
coastal zone management: Integrated management of coastal zones aiming for sustainable management of coastal resources and environments.
coral: Marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. - demersal trawl net means large nets that are pulled through the water with the bottom edge of the net touching the seabed to target bottom dwelling species living on and near the seabed, and at each edge the net is held open by metal trawl doors which act as hydroplanes pulling the net mouth open;
discards – (a) means that portion of the total catch which is thrown away or slipped at sea; and (b) includes economic discards and regulatory discards;
driftnet – (a) means any net of any size which is fitted with floats or weights which make it hang vertically at the surface level of the sea, in midwater, or from the floor of the sea; but (b) but does not include a large-scale driftnet;
economic discards – (a) means fish that are discarded because they are of little or no economic interest to the fisher; and (b) includes high grading discards which occur when a fisher discard small, damaged or relatively low value catch so it does not count against his quota;
endangered species includes species that are declared endangered under any enactment or any applicable international agreement;
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): A sea zone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, stretching from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from its coast.
exploratory fishing means fishing for the purpose of assessing the sustainability and feasibility of future commercial fisheries by contributing to scientific data relating to such fisheries;
fish aggregating device – (a) means an object or group of objects of any size with which fish may associate or cluster, whether drifting, anchored, deployed and tracked or not, that is natural, manufactured or a combination of both designed to float on, or near the surface of water for the purpose of aggregating target species for consequent capture; and (b) includes buoys, floats, netting, webbing, plastics, metals, bamboo, logs or objects with electronic devices affixed to facilitate its location;
fish farm means a pond, tank, barachois, fish hatchery, structure, zone or any area in a designated fish farming zone where fish farming or fish culture is carried out;
fish farming involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds;
fish landing station means an area near the shore as the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, designate;
fisheries means – (a) one or more stocks of fish, or parts thereof, which may be treated as a unit for the purposes of conservation and management, taking into account the geographical, scientific, technical, customary, recreational, economic and other relevant characteristics; and (b) any fishing for such stocks;
fishing banks – (a) means relatively shallow plateau under the sea; and (b) includes the Nazareth, Saya de Malha, St Brandon, Soudan, Albatross and Hawkins banks found in the EEZ of Mauritius;
gear, in relation to fishing – (a) means any equipment, implement or other item that may be used for fishing; and (b) includes a net, a rope, a line, a float, a trap, a hook, a fish aggregating device or a winch; gill net means a net which – (a) is set for catching fish; (b) does not exceed 250 metres in length and 2.5 metres in width; (c) is made up of square meshes measuring not less than 11 cm when stretched diagonally; and (d) is fitted with floats and weights from the seafloor; high seas means the waters beyond the national jurisdiction of any State;
industrial fishing vessel means a fishing vessel of 24 metres or more in length overall which – (a) may be used for fishing or fishing related activities beyond 15 nautical miles from the baseline of the maritime zones of Mauritius; and (b) is owned or operates under a bareboat charter by – (i) one or more persons who are citizens of Mauritius; or (ii) an association and having a place of business in Mauritius;
instrumented buoy means a buoy clearly marked with a unique reference number allowing identification of its owner and equipped with a satellite tracking system to monitor its position.
international conservation and management measure means any legally binding measure to conserve and manage living marine resources that is adopted by any relevant regional fisheries management organisation or international agreement applicable to Mauritius, and applied consistently with the relevant rules of international law, including those reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement;
lagoon means a body of seawater located between the reef and the highwater mark on the shoreline;
landing, in relation to fish – (a) means all transfers of fish from a fishing vessel, other than transhipment; and (b) includes the transfer of fish from a fishing vessel to a container, a truck, a train, an aircraft or another means of transportation;
landing net means a net in the form of a bag having meshes of any size, a hoop of a diameter not exceeding 50 cm and which is fitted with a handle;
large net means a net which – (a) when used for fishing in lagoon, shall not exceed 500 metres in length and 2.5 m in width when mounted; or (b) when used for fishing off lagoon, shall not exceed 1,000 metres in length and 5 metres in width when mounted; and (c) is made up of square meshes measuring not less than 9 cm when stretched diagonally;
large-scale driftnet means a gill net or other net which is, or a combination of nets which are, more than 2.5 km in length, the purpose of which is to enmesh, entrap or entangle fish, by drifting on the surface of, or in, the water column;
Marine area: Geographic areas that are predominantly covered by ocean or sea water.
Marine fisheries: Fisheries located in ocean environments, as opposed to freshwater fisheries.
Marine mammals: Mammal species that primarily inhabit the ocean, including whales, dolphins, and seals.
Marine pollution: Pollution that occurs in the ocean, often from sources such as oil spills, marine dumping, and the accumulation of plastic waste.
Marine protected areas: Regions in which human activity is restricted to protect the natural environment and biodiversity in marine ecosystems.
Marine spatial planning: A public process of analyzing and allocating the spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives.
Maritime boundaries: Legally established boundaries between geographic areas that are recognized by law or agreement over the ocean.
Maritime zone: Zones established under international law or national legislation that relate to areas of water adjacent to coastlines, often regulated for economic and environmental purposes.
ornamental fish means live fish kept in a marine or fresh water aquarium, tank, pond or container both for decorative or display purposes and which are not intended for release;
pass – (a) means a passage through the reefs in which the sea flows and reflows; and (b) includes the entrance to any harbour, bay or creek;
pocket net means a net which – (a) does not exceed 15 metres in length and 12 metres in width; (b) has 2 arms, each of length not exceeding 10 metres; (c) is made up of square meshes measuring not less than 9 cm when stretched diagonally; and (d) is used in conjunction with a large net;
port of Mauritius – (a) means the Port Louis Harbour as described in the Ports Act; and (b) includes offshore terminals and other installations for landing, transhipping, packaging, processing, refuelling or resupplying; - Saltwater intrusion/siltation: The movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can occur due to depletion of freshwater resources; siltation refers to the pollution of water by particulate terrestrial clastic material.
semi-industrial fishing vessel means a fishing vessel of 12 metres or more but less than 24 metres in length overall which – (a) may be used for fishing or fishing related activities beyond 15 nautical miles from the baseline of the maritime zones of Mauritius; and (b) is owned or operates under bareboat charter by – (i) one or more persons who are citizens of Mauritius; or (ii) an association and having a place of business in Mauritius;
shrimp net means a net in the form of a bag not exceeding 2 square metres, which – (a) is fitted with a hoop measuring not more than 50 cm diametrically or diagonally; or (b) is mounted on 2 handles fitted with weights;
small-scale fish farming means a fish farming activity carried out in a designated fish farming zone at sea or an approved inland zone, with an annual turnover not exceeding than 10 million rupees;
spear gun means an implement fitted with a trigger and a spear, whether in a fully mounted or dismantled form;
structure means any jetty, slipway, ramp, dam, pier, floating platform, pontoon, marina, gate, cairn, buoy or any similar object;
Territorial sea: Coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal state that is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, except that foreign ships (both military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it.
total allowable catch means the maximum quantity of fish of individual species or groups of species made available annually, or during such other period as may be prescribed, for combined recreational, subsistence, commercial and foreign fishing;
total applied effort means – (a) the maximum number of fishing vessels, the type, size and engine power thereof or the fishing methods applied thereby for which a valid and applicable licence to fish may be issued for individual species or groups of species; or (b) the maximum number of persons on board a fishing vessel for which a valid and applicable licence may be issued to fish individual species or groups of species;
wetland – (a) means areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt; and (b) includes areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 metres;
