N.I.Records and returns
17Records and returns by holders of fishing licences and dealers' licences and persons engaged in the sea-fish industry.N.I.
(1)The Ministry may make regulations with respect to—
(a)the records to be kept and the returns to be made by—
(i)holders of fishing licences;
(ii)holders of dealers' licences;
(iii)persons engaged in business in connection with the wholesale distribution or the processing of sea-fish;
F1[(iv)sea-fishermen;
(v)fish-salesmen;]
(b)the persons to whom, the times at which, and the forms in which the returns are to be made;
(c)the heads under which particulars are to be included in such records or returns; and
(d)such other matters with respect to the records or returns (including the inspection, verification and copying of records by an officer of the Ministry) as may seem expedient.
(2)Every person required by regulations made under this section to keep any record or to make any return, who—
F2[(a)acts in contravention of any provision of the regulations; or]
(b)makes in a record or return any statement which to his knowledge is false or misleading in any material respect,
shall be guilty of an offence.
F3[(3)In subsection (1)( a) in sub-paragraph (i) “fishing licence” does not include a licence to fish with rod and line and in sub-paragraph (iii) “processing” has the same meaning as in section 15A(4).]
F1[(4)In this section—
(a)“sea-fishermen” includes the master, charterer or owner of a sea-fishing boat;
(b)“fish-salesmen” includes an auctioneer or dealer in fish at the point of landing (as defined by regulations) of the fish.]
18Disclosure of returns and information.N.I.
(1)Subject to subsection (2), returns or any information contained in returns furnished pursuant to section 17 shall not, without the consent of the person by whom any return was made, or, as the case may be, the person to whose business the returns relate, be disclosed otherwise than to the Ministry or an officer of the Ministry.
(2)Subsection (1) shall not apply to—
(a)the disclosure of returns or information in the form of a summary of similar returns or information furnished by or obtained from a number of persons, if the summary is so framed as not to enable particulars relating to any individual or any individual business to be ascertained from it; or
(b)any disclosure of information made for the purposes of any legal proceedings pursuant to this Act, or for the purposes of any report of any such proceedings; or
(c)the disclosure of any such returns or information in so far as the disclosure is required or authorised by or under this Act.
(3)If any person discloses any information in contravention of this section, he shall be guilty of an offence.