The Wash Fishery Order 1992

Licensing of fishing

8.—(1) No person shall dredge, fish for or take any of the prescribed species within the regulated fishery except under the authority of a licence issued in that behalf, on application, by the Committee.

(2) No person shall use a vessel for dredging, fishing for or taking any of the prescribed species within the regulated fishery except under the authority of a licence issued under paragraph (1) above in which the vessel is named.

(3) Subject to paragraph (9) below, a licence for dredging, fishing for or taking any of the prescribed species from a vessel shall be issued jointly to the applicant, who shall be the owner of the vessel, and his representative and shall be used only by those persons or, with the written authority of the Committee and in accordance with any conditions contained in that authority, by a deputy nominated by them.

(4) A licence shall be valid for the period not exceeding 12 months specified therein.

(5) Subject to any directions given by the Minister and the provisions of this article, licences may be issued by the Committee under paragraph (1) above in such numbers and to such persons, and may authorise the dredging, fishing for or taking of the prescribed species at such times, in such manner and in such parts of the regulated fishery as the Committee may determine.

(6) The Committee may, after consultation with such organisations as appear to it to be representative of interests likely to be substantially affected by a limitation on the number of licences issued, and such other persons as the Committee thinks fit, place a limitation on the number of licences issued in any one year having particular regard to scientific advice on the desirability of limiting the level of exploitation.

(7) Any person dredging, fishing for or taking any of the prescribed species under the authority of a licence issued under paragraph (1) above shall, when so requested by any officer authorised by the Committee and after production by that officer of written evidence of his authority if so required, produce the licence and shall desist from dredging, fishing for or taking any of those species until it is produced.

(8) Subject to paragraphs (6) above and (9) below, an applicant for a licence shall be entitled to have a licence issued to him if—

(a) in respect of licences for the first fishing year after the coming into force of this Order, he was engaged in dredging, fishing for or taking any of the prescribed species within the regulated fishery as a commercial activity or as part of a commercial activity in the fishing season immediately prior to the date of advertisement of this Order, or

(b) in respect of licences for all subsequent fishing years, he held a licence at any time within the period of 24 months immediately preceding the date of application for the licence.

(9) At the Committee’s discretion—

(a) no person may be named on a licence in accordance with paragraph (3) above as the representative of an applicant if on at least two separate occasions within the period specified in paragraph (8)(b) above that person has been convicted of a relevant offence, and

(b) the entitlement described in paragraph (8) above shall not apply if on at least two separate occasions within the period specified in paragraph (8)(b) above the applicant has been convicted of a relevant offence.

(10) In this regulation “relevant offence” means either an offence under section 3(3) of the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967 or an offence under section 11(5) of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 in so far as that offence relates to the contravention of a byelaw made under the powers contained in section 5(1)(d) of that Act.