Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1923
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1923 c. 16 |
| Year | 1923 |
Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act, 1923
(13 & 14 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 16.
An Act to consolidate and amend the enactments relating to Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries in England and Wales.
[18th July 1923]
Be it enacted by the King'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:—
Part I.
and destroying Fish.Prohibition of certain Modes of taking
1 Prohibition of fishing with lights, spears, &c.
(1) No person shall—
(a ) use any light for the purpose of taking salmon, trout, or freshwater fish; or
(b ) use any otter lath or jack, wire or snare, spear, gaff (except as hereinafter provided), strokehaul, snatch, or other like instrument for taking or killing salmon, trout, or freshwater fish; or
(c ) have in his possession a light or any of the foregoing instruments, in such circumstances as to satisfy the court before which he is charged that he intended at the time to take or kill salmon, trout, or freshwater fish by means thereof; or
(d ) throw or discharge any stone or other missile into any water for the purpose of taking or killing, or facilitating the taking or killing, of any salmon or trout.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court before which he is charged that the act was done for the purpose of the preservation or development of a private fishery and with the previous permission in writing of the fishery board, or, where there is no fishery board, of the Minister.
(3) For the purposes of this section—
(a ) The expression ‘otter lath or jack’ includes any small boat or vessel, board, stick, or other instrument, whether used with a hand line, or as auxiliary to a rod and line, or otherwise for the purpose of running out lures, artificial or otherwise;
(b ) The expression ‘strokehaul or snatch’ includes any instrument or device, whether used with a rod and line or otherwise, for the purpose of foul hooking any fish.
(4) This section shall not apply to any person using a gaff (consisting of a plain metal hook without a barb) or tailer as auxiliary to angling with a rod and line.
2 Prohibition of using roe.
(1) No person shall, for the purpose of fishing for salmon, trout or freshwater fish—
(a ) use any fish roe, or
(b ) buy, sell, or expose for sale, or have in his possession any roe of salmon or trout.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
3 Prohibition of taking unclean or immature fish.
(1) No person shall—
(a ) knowingly take, kill, or injure, or attempt to take, kill, or injure any salmon, trout, or freshwater fish which is unclean or immature within the meaning of this Act; or
(b ) buy, sell, or expose for sale, or have in his possession any salmon, trout, or freshwater fish which is unclean or immature within the meaning of this Act, or any part of any such fish.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
(3) This section shall not apply to any person who takes a fish accidentally and returns it to the water with the least possible injury.
4 Prohibition of disturbing fish spawning.
(1) No person shall wilfully disturb any spawn or spawning fish, or any bed, bank, or shallow on which any spawn or spawning fish may be.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
(3) This section shall not prejudice the legal right of any person to take materials from any waters.
5 Saving for acts done for artificial propagation or scientific purposes.
5. A person shall not be liable to any penalty under any of the provisions of the three last foregoing sections in respect of any act, if he does the act for the purpose of the artificial propagation of salmon, trout, or freshwater fish, or for some scientific purpose, or for the purpose of the preservation or development of a private fishery and has obtained the previous permission in writing of the fishery board if the act was done in a fishery district where there is a fishery board, or in any other case of the Minister.
6 Prohibition of certain modes of working nets.
(1) No person shall, in any fishery district, shoot or work any seine or draft net for salmon or migratory trout in any waters across more than three-fourths of the width thereof, or within one hundred yards from the nearest point in the line of shot of any other seine or draft net worked in like manner and already shot or being worked in the waters, before such last-mentioned net is fully drawn in and landed.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
7 Prohibition of use of certain nets.
(1) No person shall take or attempt to take salmon or migratory trout with any net having a mesh of less dimensions than two inches in extension from knot to knot (the measurement to be made on each side of the square), or eight inches measured round each mesh when wet, except in the case of a landing net in use as auxiliary to angling with rod and line.
(2) If any person contravenes this section, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
(3) The placing of two or more nets the one behind the other, or near to each other in such manner as practically to diminish the mesh of the nets used, or the covering of the nets used with canvas, or the using of any other artifice so as to evade the provisions of this section with respect to the mesh of nets, shall be deemed to be a contravention of this section:
Provided that nothing in this section shall render any person liable to a penalty for using in any place a net having a mesh of smaller dimensions than in this section specified, if the use of such a net is for the time being determined to be lawful in that place by a byelaw under this Act.
8 Protection of waters containing fish from poisonous matter and trade effluents.
(1) No person shall cause or knowingly permit to flow, or put or knowingly permit to be put, into any waters containing fish, or into any tributaries thereof, any liquid or solid matter to such an extent as to cause the waters to be poisonous or injurious to fish or the spawning grounds, spawn or food of fish, and if any person contravenes this subsection he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act:
Provided that—
(a ) a person shall not be so liable to any penalty for any act done in the exercise of any right to which he is by law entitled or in continuation of a method in use in connection with the same premises prior to the passing of this Act, if he proves to the satisfaction of the court before which he is charged that he has used the best practicable means, within a reasonable cost, to prevent such matter from doing injury to fish or to the spawning grounds, spawn or food of fish;
(b ) nothing in this subsection shall prevent any person from acquiring a legal right in cases where he would have acquired it if this Act had not passed, or exempt any person from any penalty to which he would otherwise be subject, or make lawful any act or default which would but for this Act be a nuisance or otherwise contrary to law.
(2) No person shall, within a fishery district, discharge any trade effluent into any waters containing fish by means of any new work unless such notice of the proposed construction of the new work has been given to the fishery board or to the Minister as is prescribed by this section, and, if he does so, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act: Provided that the fishery board or the Minister may at any time exempt any new work from the operation of this subsection as from the date of the exemption or any earlier date notwithstanding that the provisions of this section as to notice have not been complied with.
Notice of the proposed construction of a new work shall be given to the fishery board or to the Minister—
(a ) where under any Act or byelaw notice thereof or an application for the approval thereof is required to be given or made to a local authority, then at the same time as such notice or application is given or made; and
(b ) in any other case not less than three months before the commencement of the work,
and a notice, if not accompanied by plans and specifications of the proposed new work, shall state where such plans and specifications can be inspected at all reasonable times by an officer of the fishery board or of the Ministry, as the case may be.
The expression ‘new work’ means any work constructed after the commencement of this Act or any alteration after such date of any then existing work.
This subsection shall not apply to any work constructed by any sanitary or other local authority in pursuance of any power given by a Public General or Local Act or by a Provisional Order confirmed by Parliament.
(3) Proceedings under this section shall not be instituted except by the fishery board or by a person who has first obtained a certificate from the Minister that he has a material interest in the waters alleged to be affected.
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