Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967
| Year | 1967 |
Sea Fish (Conservation)Act 1967
1967 CHAPTER 84
An Act to consolidate (with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949) certain enactments which provide for regulating the commercial use of, fishing for, and landing of, sea fish, and for authorising measures for the increase or improvement of marine resources.
[27th October 1967]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Restrictions on commercial use of under-sized, etc., sea fish
1 Size limits, etc. for fish.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 9(1) of this Act, no person shall, in Great Britain, land, sell, expose or offer for sale, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale, any sea fish of any description, being a fish of a smaller size than such size as may be prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description by an order of the Ministers, and orders under this subsection may prescribe a different size in relation to landing from that prescribed for other purposes.
(2) Where an order under subsection (1) above prescribes a size for fish of any description (whether in relation to landing only or for all the purposes of the subsection), then, except in so far as provision to the contrary is made by such an order, a person who in Great Britain lands a part of a fish of that description, shall, subject to section 9(1) of this Act, be deemed to contravene subsection (1) above if the part is of a smaller size than the one so prescribed.
(3) Where, in the course of any fishing operations conducted by means of a fishing boat, any sea fish of any description which are of less than the minimum size prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description by any order under subsection (1) above are taken on board the boat, those fish shall, subject to section 9(2) of this Act, be returned to the sea forthwith.
(4) Subsection (3) above shall apply to all fishing boats in waters adjacent to the United Kingdom and within the fishery limits of the British Islands and also to British fishing boats registered in the United Kingdom wherever they may be.
(5) An order under subsection (1) above may provide for exempting any fishing boat or class of fishing boat from the obligation to return fish of any description specified in the order, if and so long as such conditions as may be imposed by or under the order are complied with; and if and so long as such further conditions (if any) as may be imposed are complied with, any fish retained on board under such an exemption shall be excepted from the prohibitions of the said subsection (1).
(6) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) above shall be guilty of an offence under that subsection and if subsection (3) above is not complied with in the case of any fishing boat, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be guilty of an offence under that subsection.
2 Size limits for fish for use in course of any business.
(1) Subject to any exemption granted under this section, no person shall in Great Britain have in his possession any fish to which this section applies for the purpose of processing or otherwise using it in the course of any business.
(2) This section applies to any fish which under section 1(1) of this Act is prohibited from being sold in Great Britain.
(3) Where it appears to an officer authorised in that behalf by the appropriate Minister that any fish which have been caught are fish to which this section applies, the officer may grant to any person such exemption from subsection (1) above as the officer considers requisite to enable the fish to be disposed of.
(4) Any person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
Regulation of fishing for sea fish
3 Regulation of nets and other fishing gear.
(1) The Ministers may make an order for securing that the nets and other fishing gear carried in any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom comply with such requirements as to construction, design, material, or size, including, in the case of nets, size of mesh, as may be prescribed by the order, and an order under this section, or any provisions of such an order, may be framed so as to apply only in relation to fishing for specified descriptions of sea fish, to specified methods of fishing or to fishing in specified areas or during specified periods.
(2) An order under this section may be made so as to extend to nets or other fishing gear carried in any waters adjacent to the United Kingdom and within the fishery limits of the British Islands by fishing boats registered in any country outside the United Kingdom or not registered in any country.
(3) An order under this section prescribing minimum sizes of mesh may also—
(a ) prescribe the manner in which the sizes of mesh are to be measured and, in the case of any class of nets, prescribe different sizes for the nets when in different conditions;
(b ) make provision for securing that the restrictions imposed by the order are not evaded by the use of any nets in such manner as practically to diminish their mesh, or by the covering of nets with canvas or any other material, or by the use of any other artifice;
(c ) provide for exempting any nets from any such restrictions as aforesaid, either generally or in relation to particular fishing boats or classes of fishing boats, if and so long as such conditions as may be imposed by or under the order are complied with.
(4) Without prejudice to subsection (3) above, an order under this section may, in relation to any fishing gear,—
(a ) restrict the manner in which it may be used;
(b ) prescribe the manner in which its size is to be measured;
(c ) make provision for securing that the restrictions imposed by the order are not evaded;
(d ) make the like provision for exemption as is mentioned in relation to nets in subsection (3)(c ) above.
(5) If any order under this section is contravened in the case of any fishing boat, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be guilty of an offence under this section.
(6) Any restrictions imposed by an order under this section shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, any restriction imposed by or under any other Act, and nothing in this section shall affect any power conferred by any Act to regulate sea fishing.
(7) Nothing in any byelaw, rule, order or regulation made under section 4 of the Sea Fisheries (Scotland) Amendment Act 1885 , section 6 of the Herring Fishery (Scotland) Act 1889 or section 8 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act 1895 , or in any byelaw made, or having effect as if made, under section 5 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966 , or in any regulation made, or deemed to be made, under the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 , shall be taken to authorise the carrying of fishing nets in circumstances where the carrying of those nets would otherwise be unlawful by virtue of an order made under this section.
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