Sea Fish (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) Order 1991
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1991/1380 |
| Year | 1991 |
1991 No. 1380
SEA FISHERIESCONSERVATION OF SEA FISH
The Sea Fish (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) Order 1991
Made 12th June 1991
Laid before Parliament 13th June 1991
Coming into force 1st July 1991
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State respectively concerned with the sea fishing industry in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 3, 15(3) and 22(2)(a) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 19671, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Order:
Title and commencement
1. This Order may be cited as the Sea Fish (Specified Sea Areas) (Regulation of Nets and Other Fishing Gear) Order 1991 and shall come into force on 1st July 1991.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Order—
“beam trawler” means a fishing boat which, in so far as it carries or uses nets, carries or uses only nets which are designed to be towed along the sea-bed and which have their mouth extended by a beam, bar or other rigid device;
“codend” means the rearmost part of a net, being made up of one or more panels (pieces of netting) of the same mesh size attached to one another along their sides in the long axis of the net by a lacing;
“codline” means a rope making it possible to close the rear of the codend by means of either a knot which can be easily loosened or a mechanical device;
“extension piece” means an extension piece located immediately in front of the codend and excludes any tapered part of the net;
“flapper” means a piece of netting with a mesh size at least equal to that of the codend and any extension piece, fastened inside a net in such a way that it allows catches to pass from the front to the rear of the net but limits their possibility of return;
“ICES” followed by a roman numeral with or without a letter shall be construed as a reference to whichever of the statistical sub-areas and divisions of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea2described in the Schedule is identified therein by that roman numeral or that roman numeral and letter as the case may be;
“net” means a trawl, Danish seine or similar towed net;
“protected species” has the same meaning as in Article 2(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3094/86laying down certain technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources3;
“registered engine power”, in relation to a boat, means the engine power as recorded in the Certificate of Registry of that boat issued under regulation 24 of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Fishing Vessels) Regulations 19884;
“square mesh panel” means a panel of netting mounted so that of the two sets of parallel lines formed by the mesh bars one set is parallel to, and the other at right angles to, the long axis of the net;
“strengthening bag” means a construction of netting which surrounds in whole or in part the codend and any extension piece and which is designed to support the codend and any extension piece during hauling of the gear;
“top-side chafer” means a construction of netting which covers in whole or in part the outside of the upper half of the codend and any extension piece.
(2) Any reference in this Order to a numbered article or “the Schedule” shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to the article bearing that number in this Order or the Schedule to this Order.
Exemptions
3.—(1) This Order shall not apply to any net carried in, or used by, a beam trawler.
(2) Article 4(1) shall not apply to any net carried in, or used by, a boat which has a registered engine power not exceeding 298 kilowatts or, in the case of a boat which is operating a single net with another boat as a pair, where the aggregate registered engine power of both boats does not exceed 298 kilowatts.
(3) The requirements relating to carriage of nets in article 4(2) and (3) shall not apply to any net which is properly lashed and stowed in such a way that it may not be readily used.
(4) Article 4(2) shall not apply to any net carried in, or used by, a boat for the purpose of fishing for queen scallops (Chlamys opercularis).
(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4) above, a net shall be deemed to have been carried in a boat for the purpose of fishing for queen scallops and a boat shall be deemed to have been fishing for queen scallops if the catch retained on board that boat includes at least 80% by weight queen scallops and not more than 10% by weight protected species.
Regulation of carriage and use of nets
4.—(1) Subject to article 3(1) and (2), any net with a minimum mesh size of between 90 millimetres and 100 millimetres inclusive carried in, or used by, any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom in ICES IIa south of 64° north latitude and east of 4° west longitude (Norwegian Sea), ICES IV (North Sea) or ICES VI north of a line drawn westwards from the east coast of the Sound of Jura at 56° north latitude (Rockall and West of Scotland) shall have incorporated in it as part of the net a square mesh panel which—
(a)
(a) has a minimum mesh size of 90 millimetres;
(b)
(b) is at least 3 metres in length, extends widthways across the net at right angles to the towing axis for the top half of the net and is attached along each lateral edge to the net in such a way that the stretched length of the section of the net to which the panel is attached is the same as the stretched length of the panel along that lateral edge; and
(c)
(c) is placed—
(i) in the codend or in any extension piece or immediately in front of any extension piece or, in the absence of an extension piece, immediately in front of the codend;
(ii) with, in each case, the rearmost part of the panel not more than 7 metres in front of the codline which is nearest to the front of the net; and
(iii) either forward of any flapper or with the front end of the panel to the rear of any flapper by at least 3 flapper lengths.
(2) Subject to article 3(1), (3) and (4), any net with a minimum mesh size of between 70 millimetres and 85 millimetres inclusive carried in, or used by, any British fishing boat registered in the United...
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