Enforcement of orders, etc.U.K.
15 Powers of British sea-fishery officers for enforcement of Act.U.K.
(1). . . every British sea-fishery officer shall have the powers conferred by the following provisions of this section.
(2)Any such officer may seize—
[(a)any fish in respect of which an offence has been or is being committed under section 1(3) of this Act;
(aa)any net or other fishing gear in respect of which a contravention of an order under section 3 of this Act has been or is being committed;
(b)any fish in respect of which an offence has been or is being committed under section 4(3), (6) or (9A) or 5(1) or (6) of this Act where the fish are on the fishing boat with or on which the offence has been or is being committed or are in the ownership or custody of, or under the control of, the owner, the master or the charterer (if any) of the fishing boat;]
[(c)any net or other fishing gear used in contravention of a prohibition imposed by an order under the said section 4 or 5;]
(d)any fish landed in contravention of an order under section 6 of this Act, and any net or other fishing gear used in catching any fish so landed.
[(2A)Any such officer may—
(a)enter at any reasonable time any premises (other than a dwelling-house) used for carrying on any business in connection with the operation of fishing boats or activities connected therewith or ancillary thereto or with the treatment, storage or sale of sea fish;
(b)require any person on the premises to produce any documents which are in his custody or possession relating to the catching, landing, trans-shipment, sale or disposal of any sea fish;
(c)take copies of any such document;
and, if he has reason to suspect that an offence under this Act has been committed, he may also—
(d)search the premises for any such document and require any person on the premises to do anything which appears to him to be necessary for facilitating the search;
(e)seize and detain any such document produced to him or found on the premises for the purpose of enabling the document to be used as evidence in proceedings for the offence.
(2B)Any such officer may—
(a)go on board any vessel into which sea fish are being trans-shipped or into which he has reason to believe that sea fish have been or are about to be trans-shipped;
(b)require any person on the vessel to produce any documents which are in his custody or possession relating to sea fish which have been or are to be trans-shipped into that vessel;
(c)for the purpose of ascertaining whether an offence has been committed under this Act search the vessel for any such document;
(d)take copies of any such document;
(e)inspect any sea fish on, and the equipment of, the vessel, and observe any trans-shipment of sea fish into, the vessel;
(f)require any person on the vessel to do anything which appears to the officer to be necessary for facilitating the exercise of his powers under paragraph (a), (c) or (e) above.
(2C)Any person who—
(a)without reasonable excuse fails to comply with any requirement imposed under subsection (2A) or (2B) above; or
(b)assaults an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred on him by either of those subsections or wilfully obstructs an officer in the exercise of any of those powers,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or on conviction on indictment to a fine.]
[(3)Any such officer may exercise in relation to any fishing boat in any waters adjacent to the United Kingdom and within [relevant][British fishery limits] and in relation to any [relevant] British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom and any British owned fishing boat (not so registered) anywhere outside those limits, such of the powers of a British sea-fishery officer under section 8(2) to (4) of the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 as may be conferred on him by order of the Ministers, being powers which the Ministers consider necessary for the enforcement of any of the provisions of sections 1 to 7 of this Act or any order made under any of those sections.
[(3A)The powers which may be conferred on any such officer by an order under this section shall include power to—
(a)require any person on board the boat to produce—
(i)any automatic recording equipment or transmitting equipment used in accordance with a condition included in a licence by virtue of section 4(6) or 4A(6) of this Act, or
(ii)any record produced by means of such equipment, or partly by those and partly by other means;
(b)search the boat for any such equipment or record, and require any person on board the boat to do anything which appears to the officer to be necessary to facilitate the search;
(c)examine and take copies of any such record;
(d)seize and detain any such equipment or record for the purpose of enabling that equipment or record, or any record which may be produced by means of that equipment, to be used as evidence in proceedings for any offence.
(3B)An order under this section shall not permit anything which is required to be carried on board the boat by a condition included in a licence by virtue of section 4(6) or 4A(6) of this Act to be seized and detained except while the boat is detained in a port.]
(4)An order under this section may make different provision for different cases.
(5)Section 10 of the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 shall apply in relation to the provisions of an order under this section and the powers thereby conferred as they apply in relation to section 8 of that Act and the powers thereby conferred; and, in relation to an offence under the said section 10 as it applies by virtue of this subsection, sections 12 to 14 of that Act shall apply accordingly.]
Subordinate Legislation Made
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16 Enforcement of orders under ss. 1 and 2.E+W+S
(1)With a view to enforcing any order under section 1 of this Act, and with a view to enforcing section 2 thereof, any of the following officers, that is to say—
(a)any officer authorised by the appropriate Minister,
[(aa)any British sea-fishery officer]
(b)any police officer,
(c)any officer of a market authority, acting within the limits of any market which that authority has power to regulate,
(d)any fishery officer of a local fisheries committee acting within the district of the committee, and
(e)any officer authorised by the Fishmongers’ Company and acting within the City of London,
may, at all reasonable times, go on board any fishing boat or enter any premises used for carrying on any business in connection with the treatment, storage or sale of sea fish, may search for and examine any sea fish in any place, whether on board a fishing boat or elsewhere, and whether in a receptacle or not, and may seize any sea fish which have been landed, sold or exposed or offered for sale by any person in contravention of the said section 1, or which any person has in his possession in contravention of the said section 1 or 2, as the case may be.
[(1A)Any person who assaults an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) above or wilfully obstructs an officer in the exercise of any of those powers shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or on conviction on indictment to a fine.]
(2)For the purposes of this section the district of a local fisheries committee shall be deemed to extend throughout the area of any council liable to pay, or contribute to the payment of, the expenses of the committee, except that the powers conferred by this section on the committee or any officer thereof shall not be exercisable in respect of any matter arising within the limits of any market under the control of the council of any county borough or [district.]
[(3)An officer shall not be liable in any civil or criminal proceedings for anything done in the purported exercise of the powers conferred on him by this section if the court is satisfied that the act was done in good faith and there were reasonable grounds for doing it.]
Textual Amendments
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
17 Enforcement of orders under s. 3.E+W+S
With a view to enforcing any order made under section 3 of this Act, any fishery officer of a local fisheries committee may, within the district of the committee, go on board any [relevant] British fishing boat [or Scottish fishing boat] registered in the United Kingdom and search for and examine all nets or other fishing gear carried in that boat, and may seize any net or other fishing gear in respect of which a contravention of an order under that section has been, or is being, committed.
18 Enforcement of orders in relation to salmon and migratory trout.E+W
(1)In so far as [any order under section 4, 5 or 6 of this Act], imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which, [ are included in the area which by virtue of [subsection (7) of section 6 of the Environment Act 1995]] is the area in relation to which [the Environment Agency] carries out functions relating to fisheries under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 or on landing salmon or migratory trout
[(a)section 31(1)(d) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 (which confers power of seizure) shall apply as if the reference in it to that Act included a reference to this Act, and sections 36(1) and (2) of that Act, and paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 (all of which contain ancilliary provisions), shall be construed accordingly as including references to that Act as applied by this subsection;]
[(b)the provisions of sections 169 and 172 of the Water Resources Act 1991 and, in relation to those sections, of Schedule 20 to that Act (which confer powers of entry) shall apply as if section 4 of this Act, and any order under section 5 or 6 of this Act, were an enactment to which the said sections 169 and 172 applied.]
(2)Where [any order under the said section 4, 5 or 6] imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which form part of the district of a district board within the meaning of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Protection) (Scotland) Act 1951, or on landing salmon or migratory trout at a place within such a district as aforesaid, any water bailiff, constable or any person appointed by the [Scottish Ministers] in pursuance of section 10(5) of the said Act of 1951 may exercise in relation to the contravention of the said section 4 or of any such order any of the powers conferred upon him in relation to a contravention of that Act by the following provisions thereof, that is to say—
(a)sections 11 and 12 (which confer powers of search and arrest); and
(b)sections 10(1)(d) and 20, so far as those provisions relate to the seizure of fish, instruments or articles liable to forfeiture or to the disposal of such fish,
and subsections (3) and (6) of the said section 10 (which contain provisions ancillary thereto) shall apply as if the Acts therein mentioned included a reference to this Act.
[(3)Where any order under the said section 4, 5 or 6 imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which form part of the Tweed district (as defined in article 2(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 (River Tweed) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2913)), or on landing salmon or migratory trout at a place within that district, the provisions of articles 56 to 61 and 63(3) and (4) of that Order (which relate to enforcement and forfeiture) shall apply in relation to any contravention of the orders mentioned above as they apply in relation to a contravention of that Order.]
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18 Enforcement of orders in relation to salmon and migratory trout.S
(1)In so far as [any order under section 4, 5 or 6 of this Act], imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which, for the purposes of the functions of a [water authority] relating to fisheries, are included in the area of the [water authority], or on landing salmon or migratory trout at a place within a [water authority area]—
[(a)section 31(1)(d) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 (which confers power of seizure) shall apply as if the reference in it to that Act included a reference to this Act, and sections 36(1) and (2) of that Act, and paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 (all of which contain ancilliary provisions), shall be construed accordingly as including references to that Act as applied by this subsection;]
(b)the provisions of subsections (1), (3) and (4) of section 111, and subsections (1) to (7) of section 112, of the Water Resources Act 1963 (which confer powers for the enforcement of that Act) shall apply as if section 4 of this Act, and any order under section 5 or 6 thereof, were an enactment relating to the functions of the [water authority].
[(2)Where any order under the said section 4, 5 or 6 imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which form part of the district of a district salmon fishery board within the meaning of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 15), or on landing salmon or migratory trout at a place within such a district as aforesaid, the provisions of sections 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58 and 60(3) and (4) of that Act (which relate to enforcement and forfeiture) shall apply in relation to any contravention of the orders mentioned above as they apply in relation to a contravention of that Act.]
[(3)Where any order under the said section 4, 5 or 6 imposes any prohibition or restriction on fishing for salmon or migratory trout within any waters which form part of the Tweed district (as defined in article 2(1) of the Scotland Act 1998 (River Tweed) Order 2006 (S.I. 2006/2913)), or on landing salmon or migratory trout at a place within that district, the provisions of articles 56 to 61 and 63(3) and (4) of that Order (which relate to enforcement and forfeiture) shall apply in relation to any contravention of the orders mentioned above as they apply in relation to a contravention of that Order.]
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