The Scallop Fishing Order 2004

Citation, commencement and extent U.K.

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Scallop Fishing Order 2004 and shall come into force on 1st February 2004.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), this Order shall not form part of the law of Scotland or Northern Ireland.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) shall prejudice the effect of section 14 of the Act in relation to, or for purposes incidental to, any provision which creates an offence.

Interpretation U.K.

2.—(1) In this Order—

“the Act” means the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967;

“baselines” has the same meaning as in the Territorial Sea Act 1987(1);

“British fishing boat” means a fishing boat which is either registered in the United Kingdom under Part II of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995(2) or is owned wholly by persons qualified to own British ships for the purposes of that part of that Act, and in relation to Guernsey includes other fishing boats within the relevant definition as extended by the Sea Fish (Conservation) (Channel Islands) Order 1981(3);

“equivalent order” means any other order made under sections 1, 3 or 15 of the Act creating prohibitions similar to any of those in articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Order and extending or applying to any part of the United Kingdom;

“ICES” followed by a roman numeral, a letter and a description shall be construed as a reference to the statistical sub-area of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea with the same numeral, letter and description identified in the Schedule;

“Northern Ireland fishing boat” means a vessel which is registered in the register maintained under section 8 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and whose entry in the register specifies a port in Northern Ireland as the port to which the vessel is to be treated as belonging;

“Northern Ireland zone” means the sea within British fishery limits which is adjacent to Northern Ireland;

“relevant British fishing boat” does not include a Northern Ireland fishing boat;

“scallop” means the species Pecten maximus;

“scallop dredge” means any appliance with a rigid framed mouth which is towed through the water and is manufactured, adapted, used or intended for use for the purpose of fishing for scallops.

(2) In this Order—

(a) the term “within relevant British fishery limits” does not include—

(i) the Northern Ireland zone;

(ii) the territorial sea adjacent to Wales;

(iii) the territorial sea adjacent to the Isle of Man; or

(iv) the territorial sea adjacent to Jersey;

(b) any reference to any relevant British fishing boat “wherever it may be” does not include a fishing boat in the territorial sea adjacent to Wales.

General restriction on scallop dredges U.K.

3.—(1) No British fishing boat shall carry or tow a scallop dredge within relevant British fishery limits unless that dredge meets all of the following criteria—

(a) its frame does not exceed 85 centimetres in width in any part;

(b) it includes a functioning, operational and moveable spring loaded tooth bar and a belly bar;

(c) it does not contain any attachments to the rear, top or inside of the dredge;

(d) it does not contain a diving plate or any other similar device; and

(e) the total weight of the dredge including all fittings does not exceed 150 kilogrammes.

(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) does not apply to a fishing boat which does not retain any scallops on board and is—

(a) in an area which is a production area for the purpose of the Food Safety (Fishery Products and Live Shellfish) (Hygiene) Regulations 1998(4); or

(b) on a voyage in which it only fishes for and retains on board seed mussel for relaying into such a production area.

(3) In this article, belly rings, as described in article 4, and the fastenings which attach them to each other and to the frame do not count as attachments, and “tooth bar” and “belly bar” have the same meanings as in that article.

Specification of scallop dredges U.K.

4.—(1) No British fishing boat shall carry or tow a scallop dredge within relevant British fishery limits unless the dredge conforms to all of the following specifications—

(a) where the dredge measures 80 centimetres or more in breadth, it shall not have—

(i) more than 8 rows of belly rings hanging from the belly bar;

(ii) more than 9 teeth on the tooth bar, where either—

(aa) the fishing boat in question is not in the relevant area; or

(bb) all of the teeth measure 12 millimetres or less;

(iii) more than 8 teeth on the tooth bar, where—

(aa) the fishing boat in question is in the relevant area; and

(bb) any of the teeth measure more than 12 millimetres;

(b) where the dredge measures less than 80 centimetres in breadth, it shall not have—

(i) more than 6 rows of belly rings hanging from the belly bar; or

(ii) more than 6 teeth on the tooth bar;

(c) it shall not contain more than 1 row of belly rings hanging from either side of the dredge perpendicular to the rings which hang from the belly bar;

(d) each tooth on the tooth bar shall not measure more than—

(i) 22 millimetres where the dredge measures 80 centimetres or more in breadth; or

(ii) 12 millimetres where the dredge measures less than 80 centimetres in breadth.

(2) In this article—

(a) a row of belly rings is a line of single interconnecting rings, where the ring at one end of the line hangs either from the belly bar or from the main structure of the dredge perpendicular to the belly bar;

(b) a belly bar is the bar attached to the frame of the dredge which runs parallel to the tooth bar and from which most of the belly rings ultimately hang;

(c) a tooth bar is the bar to which are attached teeth, the ends of which point downwards and are dragged along the sea bed when the dredge is towed;

(d) the size of a tooth shall be its maximum width measured in the direction of the line of the tooth bar;

(e) “the relevant area” means the part of ICES division VII a which is north of the line 52° 30− N, and all of ICES division VII d.

Restriction on number of scallop dredges U.K.

5.  No British fishing boat shall, at any one time, tow more than 8 scallop dredges on each side of the boat when within relevant British fishery limits in the sea adjacent to the United Kingdom out to a line drawn 6 nautical miles from baselines.

Carriage of undersized scallops U.K.

6.  For the purposes of section 1(3) of the Act, the minimum size for scallops that may be carried by a British fishing boat in ICES division VII d is 110 millimetres.

Measurement of scallops U.K.

7.  For the purposes of article 6, the size of a scallop shall measured in accordance with paragraph 6 of Annex XIII to Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juvenile marine organisms(5) as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 973/2001(6).

Powers of British sea-fishery officers U.K.

8.—(1) For the purposes of enforcing this Order or any equivalent order, a British sea fishery officer may exercise the powers conferred by this article in relation to—

(a) any relevant British fishing boat wherever it may be; and

(b) any other British fishing boat which is within relevant British fishery limits.

(2) He may go on board the boat, with or without persons assigned to assist him in his duties, and for that purpose may require the boat to stop and do anything else which will facilitate the boarding of the boat.

(3) He may require the attendance of the master and other persons on board the boat and may make any examination and inquiry which appears to him to be necessary for the purpose of enforcing this Order or any equivalent order as read with the Act and, in particular—

(a) may examine any fish on the boat and the equipment of the boat, including the fishing gear, and require persons on board the boat to do anything which appears to him to be necessary for facilitating the examination; and

(b) may require any person on board the boat to produce any document relating to the boat, to its fishing operations or other operations ancillary thereto or to the persons on board which is in his custody or possession and may take copies of any such document;

(c) for the purpose of ascertaining whether the master, owner or charterer of the boat has committed an offence under the Act as read with this Order, may search the boat for any such document and may require any person on board the boat to do anything which appears to him to be necessary for facilitating the search;

(d) where the boat is one in relation to which he has reason to suspect that such an offence has been committed, may seize and detain any such document produced to him or found on board for the purpose of enabling the document to be used as evidence in proceedings for the offence;

but nothing in sub-paragraph (d) shall permit any document required by law to be carried on board the boat to be seized and detained except while the boat is detained in a port.

(4) Where it appears to a British sea-fishery officer that a contravention of any provision of this Order has at any time taken place, he may—

(a) require the master of the boat in relation to which the contravention took place to take, or himself take, the boat and its crew to the port which appears to him to be the nearest convenient port; and

(b) detain or require the master to detain the boat in the port;

and where such an officer detains or requires the detention of a boat he shall serve on the master a notice in writing stating that the boat will be or is required to be detained until the notice is withdrawn by the service on the master of a further notice in writing signed by a British sea-fishery officer.

Revocation U.K.

9.  The Undersized Scallops (West Coast) Order 1984(7) is revoked in so far as it applies within relevant British Fishery limits.

Ben Bradshaw

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

7th January 2004

Paul Murphy

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

8th January 2004