Sea Fish Industry Act 1938

47 Accounts to be rendered by owners with respect to profits of fishing-boats

The following section shall be substituted for section three hundred and eighty-eight of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as " the principal Act " ):—

“388 (1) Where the skipper or any other member of the crew of a fishing-boat is paid, wholly or in part, by a share in the catch, an account in a form approved by the Board of Trade, certified by or on behalf of the owner of the boat to be true, and showing the amounts for which the fish have been sold and all deductions from the said amounts which are made for the purpose of arriving at the net value of the catch, shall be delivered by the owner of the boat to the skipper and to the second hand, and shall be kept by the owner at such place, and in such manner, as the Board may direct with a view to ensuring that the account is readily available for inspection at any reasonable time by any member of the crew so paid as aforesaid.

(2) The account which under the preceding subsection must be delivered by the owner of a fishing-boat to members of the crew who are paid, wholly or in part, by a share in the catch shall, in the case of a fishing-boat being a trawler of twenty-five tons tonnage or upwards, also be delivered by the owner to the superintendent at or nearest the port at which payment is made.

(3) Where the skipper or any other member of the crew of a fishing-boat is paid, wholly or in part, by a share in the catch, a further account in such form as may be approved by the Board of Trade, showing the amount of the remuneration payable to him in respect of his share in the catch and the amount of all deductions to be made therefrom on any account whatever, shall be rendered by the owner of the boat to the skipper and by the owner or skipper of the boat to every seaman who is so paid as aforesaid; and a deduction from the said remuneration shall not be allowed unless it is included in the account so rendered or is in respect of a matter happening after the account has been so rendered.

(4) The Board of Trade may, for the purposes of this section, approve different forms of accounts for use in different circumstances.

(5) If the owner or skipper of a fishing-boat fails without reasonable cause to comply with the foregoing provisions of this section, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds; and if any person gives in relation to such an account as aforesaid a certificate which, to his knowledge, is false, he shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine.

(6) A superintendent may inquire into the correctness of any account prepared in pursuance of this section; and, for the purpose of any inquiry which he may make under this subsection, a superintendent shall have all the powers of a Board of Trade inspector under this Act, and the provisions of the last preceding section shall apply in relation to any decision that the superintendent may give as to the correctness of the account which is the subject of the inquiry, as those provisions apply in relation to a decision given by a superintendent on determining a dispute under that section.

(7) If a dispute arises as to the amount payable to the skipper, or any other member of the crew of a fishing-boat in respect of his share of the catch, he or some person acting on his behalf shall be entitled to inspect, at all reasonable times, the owner's accounts and books relating to the catch; and if the owner, upon demand, fails without reasonable cause to submit his said accounts or books for inspection as aforesaid at a reasonable time, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.”