EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order amends the Lobsters and Crawfish (Prohibition of Fishing and Landing) Order 2000 (“the 2000 Order”) to prohibit fishing for, and the landing of, lobsters and crawfish which are carrying eggs (“berried” lobsters and crawfish).
Article 2(3) inserts new article 4A into the 2000 Order. This article prohibits fishing for berried lobsters and crawfish by relevant British fishing boats or Scottish fishing boats within British fishery limits excluding the Scottish zone, the Welsh zone, the Northern Ireland zone, the territorial sea adjacent to the Isle of Man, the territorial sea adjacent to the Bailiwick of Jersey and the seas adjacent to Guernsey. New article 4A also prohibits the landing in England of berried lobsters or crawfish by relevant British fishing boats or Scottish fishing boats regardless of where the lobsters or crawfish were caught.
Section 5(6) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 requires, subject to section 9 of that Act, all fish caught in contravention of the fishing prohibition contained in new article 4A to be returned to the sea forthwith.
Article 2(2) makes consequential amendments to the interpretation provisions in the 2000 Order. Article 2(4) inserts new article 6 into the 2000 Order which requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of the 2000 Order and publish a report within five years of this Order coming into force (and then within every five years after that).
The provisions of this Order were notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with the requirements of Article 46(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 850/98 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms (OJ No. L 125, 27.4.1998, p.1, as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/812 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L 133, 29.5.2015, p.1)).
A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available at www.gov.uk/defra or from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR and is submitted with the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.