Seal Fishery (North Pacific) Act 1893

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1893 c. 23
Year1893


Seal Fishery (North Pacific) Act, 1893

(56 & 57 Vict.) CHAPTER 23.

An Act to provide for prohibiting the Catching of Seals at certain periods in Behring's Sea and other parts of the Pacific Ocean adjacent to Behring's Sea.

[29th June 1893]

W HEREAS it is expedient to extend the Sea Fishery (Behring's Sea) Act, 1891, to other waters of the North Pacific Ocean adjacent to Behring's Sea, and for that purpose to repeal and reenact that Act:

Be it therefore 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:

S-1 Power to prohibit by Order in Council the hunting ofseals in Behring's Sea and adjacent parts of the Pacific Ocean.

1 Power to prohibit by Order in Council the hunting ofseals in Behring's Sea and adjacent parts of the Pacific Ocean.

(1)1.—(1.) Her Majesty the Queen may, by Order in Council, prohibit during the period specified by the Order, the catching of seals by British ships in such parts of the seas to which this Act applies is are specified by the Order.

(2) (2.) While an Order in Council under this Act is in force—

(a. ) a person belonging to a British ship shall not kill, take, or hunt, or attempt to kill or take, any seal during the period and within the seas specified by the Order; and

(b. ) a British ship shall not, nor shall any of the equipment or crew thereof, be used or employed in such killing, taking, hunting, or attempt.

(3) (3.) If there is any contravention of this Act, any person committing, procuring, aiding, or abetting such contravention shall be guilty of a misdemeanor within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 , and the ship and her equipment, and everything on board thereof, shall be liable to be forfeited to Her Majesty as if an offence hod been committed under section one hundred and three of the said Act, and the provisions of sections one hundred and three and one hundred and four and Part Ten of the said Act, and of section thirty-four of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876 (which are set out in the schedule to this Act) shall apply as if they were herein re-enacted, and in terms made applicable to an offence and forfeiture under this Act, and any commissioned officer on full pay in the naval service of Her Majesty the Queen may seize the ship's certificate of registry.

(4) (4.) Any commissioned officer on full pay in the naval service of Her Majesty the Queen shall have power, during the period and in the sea specified by the Order, to stop and examine any British ship, and to detain her, or any portion of her equipment, or any of her crew, if in his judgment the ship is being or is preparing to be used or employed in contravention of this Act.

(5) (5.) For carrying into effect an arrangement with any foreign State, an Order in Council under this Act may provide that such officers of that State as are specified in the Order may exercise the like powers under this Act as may be exercised by such a commissioned officer as aforesaid in relation to a British ship, and the equipment and crew and certificate thereof, and that, such British officers as are specified in the Order may exercise, with the necessary modifications, the powers conferred by this Act in relation to a ship of the said foreign State, and the equipment and crew and papers thereof.

(6) (6.) If during the period and within the seas specified by the Order a British ship is found having on board thereof fishing or shooting implements or seal skins or bodies of seals, it shall lie on the owner or master of such ship to prove that the ship was not used or employed in contravention of this Act.

S-2 Provision as to ship's papers.

2 Provision as to ship's papers.

(1)2.—(1.) Where an officer has power under this Act to seize a ship's certificate of registry, he may either retain the certificate and give a provisional certificate in lieu thereof, or return the certificate with an indorsement of the grounds on which it was seized, and in either case may direct the ship, by an addition to the provisional certificate or to the indorsement, to proceed forthwith to a specified port, being a port where there is a British court having authority to adjudicate in the matter, and if this direction is not complied with, the owner and master of the ship shall, without prejudice to any other liability, each be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(2) (2.) Where in pursuance of this section a provisional certificate is given to a ship, or the ship's certificate is indorsed, any officer of customs in Her Majesty's dominions or British consular officer may detain the ship until satisfactory security is given for her appearance in any legal proceedings which may be taken against her in pursuance of this Act.

S-3 Evidence.

3 Evidence.

(1)3.—(1.) A statement in writing, purporting to be signed by an officer having power in pursuance of this Act to stop and examine a ship, as to the circumstances under which or grounds on which he stopped and examined the ship, shall be admissible in any proceedings, civil or criminal, as evidence of the facts or matters therein stated.

(2) (2.) If evidence contained in any such statement was taken on oath in the presence of the person charged in the evidence, and that person had an opportunity of cross-examining the person giving the evidence and of making his reply to the evidence, the officer making the statement may certify that the evidence was so taken and that there was such opportunity as aforesaid.

S-4 Orders in Council.

4 Orders in Council.

(1)4.—(1.) Her Majesty the Queen in Council may make, revoke, and alter Orders for the purpose of this Act, and every such order shall be forthwith laid before both Houses of Parliament and published in the London Gazette.

(2) (2.) Any such Order may contain any limitations, conditions, qualifications, and exceptions which appear to Her Majesty in Council expedient for carrying into effect the object of this Act.

S-5 Application, construction, short title, and durationof Act.

5 Application, construction, short title, and durationof Act.

(1)5.—(1.) This Act shall apply to the animal known as the fur seal, and to any marine animal specified in that behalf by an Order in Council under this Act, and the expression ‘seal’ in this Act shall be construed accordingly.

(2) (2.) This Act shall apply to the seas within that part of the Pacific Ocean known as Behring's Sea and within such other parts of the Pacific Ocean is are north of the forty-second parallel of north latitude.

(3) (3.) The expression ‘equipment’ in this Act includes any boat, tackle, fishing or shooting instruments, and other things belonging to a ship.

(4) (4.) This Act may be cited as the Seal Fishery (North Pacific) Act, 1893 .

(5) (5.) The Seal Fishery (Behring's Sea) Act, 1891, is hereby repealed, but any Order in Council in force under that Act shall continue as if it had been made in pursuance of this Act.

(6) (6.) This Act shall be and remain in force until the first day of July one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five.

S C H E D U L E.

ENACTMENTS OF MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104.) APPLIED.

Section 103.

* * * * *

And in order that the above provisions as to forfeitures may be carried into effect, it shall be lawful for any commissioned officer on full pay in the military or naval service of Her Majesty, or any British officer of Customs, or any British Consular officer, to seize and detain any ship which has, either wholly or as to any share therein, become subject to forfeiture as aforesaid, and to bring her for adjudication before the High Court of Adimiralty in England or Ireland, or any court having Admiralty jurisdiction in Her Majesty's dominions; and such court may thereupon make such order in the case as it may think fit, and may award to the officer bring in in the same for adjudication such portion of the proceeds of the sale of any forfeited ship or share as it may think right.

Section 104.

No such officer as aforesaid shall be responsible, either civilly or criminally,to any person whomsoever, in respect of the seizure or detention of any ship that has been seized or detained by him in pursuance of the provisions herein contained, notwithstanding that such ship is not brought in for adjudication, or, if so brought in, is declared not to be liable to forfeiture, if it is shown to the satisfaction of the judge or court before whom any trial relating to such ship of such seizure or detention is held that there were reasonable grounds for such seizure or detention; but if no such grounds are...

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