33 (1) The master of a foreign fishing vessel in Canadian fisheries waters shall ensure at all times that there is maintained a distance of at least 1/2 nautical mile between his vessel and any equipment and gear attached thereto and any set fishing gear that has been marked so as to be visible to persons on board vessels navigating in the vicinity.

1. Without prejudice to specific rules, in relevant geographical areas subject to a fishing effort regime where gear restrictions apply or where maximum allowable fishing effort were set for different fishing gears or groupings of fishing gears, the master of a fishing vessel or his representative shall notify to the competent authorities of the flag Member State before a period to which maximum allowable fishing effort applies which fishing gear or, where applicable, fishing gears he intends to use during the forthcoming period.

3. Where a Member State has authorised a fishing vessel in accordance with Article 27(2) to use more than one fishing gear or gears belonging to more than one grouping of fishing gears subject to a fishing effort regime during a certain fishing trip in a geographical area subject to that fishing effort regime, the fishing effort deployed during that trip shall be counted simultaneously against the maximum allowable fishing effort available to this Member State and related to each of such gears or groupings of fishing gears and to such geographical area.

2. Marker buoys and similar floating objects indicating the position of fixed fishing gear shall at all times clearly indicate the letter(s) and/or number(s) of the vessel(s) to which they belong.

Static or passive gear can, indeed, provide the right kind of selectivity if some of the technical specifications, particularly mesh sizes, and rules for deployment and use are enforced; at the same time, there may be disadvantages, real or potential, in terms of selectivity, fishing effort, interaction with other types of gear and so on.

The amount fixed corresponds to the value of the fishing gear in question, and is determined on the basis of the purchase price, length of service and the state of preservation, but may in no circumstances exceed the current value of fishing gear of the same type.