FISHERIES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1953

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR TROUT NETTING IN CERTAIN LAKES, TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO FREE GAPS IN FISHING WEIRS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATERS FROM POLLUTION AND TO EXTEND PARAGRAPH 1 (b) OF THE FIRST SCHEDULE TO THE FISHERIES ACT, 1925, TO THE FOYLE AREA. [23rd June, 1953.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act “the Minister” means the Minister for Agriculture.

• (2) The Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1949, and this Act shall be construed as one.

2 Use of draft nets in certain cases.

2.—(1) Where—

• (a) application is made to the Minister to permit the use of draft nets for the capture of trout in a specified lake exceeding thirty square miles in area, and

• (b) the applicant furnishes the Minister with the consent in writing of every owner of a several fishery in the lake, and,

• (c) the applicant satisfies the Minister that within twenty years before the 1st day of January, 1948, nets were used as of right in the lake for the capture of trout by members of the public who depended on such netting as a means of livelihood,

the Minister, if he thinks fit, may make bye-laws permitting the use of draft nets for such capture, subject to such conditions as he thinks proper.

• (2) Where bye-laws under this section are for the time being in force in relation to waters vested in the Electricity Supply Board, nothing in any enactment shall be construed as prohibiting the Board from permitting the use of draft nets in such waters in accordance with the bye-laws.

• (3) Sections 35 and 36 of the Fisheries Act, 1939 (No. 17 of 1939), shall not apply in relation to nets to which bye-laws under this section for the time being apply.

• (4) Subsections (2) to (5) of section 28 of the Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925), as amended by section 10 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1936 (No. 48 of 1936), and section 7 of the Fisheries (Statute Law Revision) Act, 1949 (No. 27 of 1949), shall apply in respect of every bye-law under this section.

3 Operation of fishing weir without free gap.

3.—(1) The Minister may by order authorise the operation of a specified fishing weir belonging to the Minister or the Electricity Supply Board without a free gap, subject to such conditions as to the release upstream of a sufficient number of the fish entering the weir as he thinks proper to impose for the purpose of adequately maintaining stocks of such fish, and may by order amend or revoke any order made by him under this section.

• (2) Before making an order under this section the Minister shall cause notice of his intention, containing a draft of the proposed order, to be published and circulated in the locality to be affected by the order and shall consider any objections thereto made to him during one month after the publication of the notice.

• (3) For the purpose of this section any contrivance for taking or facilitating the taking of fish associated with hydro-electric works constructed by the Electricity Supply Board shall be deemed to be a fishing weir.

• (4) An order under this section shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1949.

• (5) Every order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

• (6) Notice of the making of every order under this section shall, as soon as may be, be published in Iris Oifigiúil and in one or more newspapers circulating in the area affected by the order, and a copy of the order shall be deposited with the County Registrar for every county and the District Court Clerk of every district which, or any part of which, is affected thereby, and in every station of the Garda Síochána within the area affected thereby.

4 Public inquiries.

4.—(1) The Minister may, if he thinks fit, cause a public inquiry to be held into the desirability of making a particular order or bye-law under this Act.

• (2) The provisions of the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1949, relating to public inquiries shall apply to an inquiry held under this section.

5 Protection of waters from pollution.

5.—(1) In this section—

“deleterious matter” means any explosive or any substance which, on entry or discharge into any waters, is liable to render the waters poisonous or injurious to fish; spawning grounds or the food of any fish;

“waters” means any river, lake, watercourse, estuary or any part of the sea coast.

• (2) Any person who—

• (a) uses in any waters any deleterious matter for the capture, destruction or injury of fish, or

• (b) has in his possession or control on the bank of or near any waters any deleterious matter with intent to use it in the capture, destruction or injury of fish,

shall be guilty of an offence.

• (3) Any person who—

• (a) steeps in any waters any flax or hemp, or

• (b) throws, empties, permits or causes to fall into any waters any deleterious matter,

shall, unless such act is done under and in accordance with a licence granted by the Minister under this section, be guilty of an offence.

• (4) Any person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds or at the discretion of the court to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

• (5) On conviction of a person for an offence under this section the substance (being deleterious matter found in his possession or control or flax or hemp found in a river or lake) in respect of which the offence was committed shall as a statutory consequence of conviction stand forfeited.

• (6) The Minister, after consultation with the Minister for Industry and Commerce or (in the case of a licence to be granted to a sanitary authority in relation to a sewerage scheme) with the Minister for Local Government, may grant licences for the purposes of this section, may attach conditions to any licence, and may after like consultation revoke any licence.

• (7) Section 36 of Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1850, and section 7 of Fisheries Act, 1924 (No. 6 of 1924) are hereby repealed.

6 Construction of section 12 of Fisheries Act, 1925, in relation to Foyle Area.

6.—The expression “another district” in paragraph 1 (b) of the First Schedule to the Fisheries Act, 1925 (No. 32 of 1925) (which provides for a reduced rate of licence duty for a single salmon rod in the case of the holder of a like licence for another district) shall include the Foyle Area, as defined in the Foyle Fisheries Act, 1952 (No. 5 of 1952), and section 12 of the Fisheries Act, 1925, shall be construed accordingly.

7 Short title and collective citation.

7.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1953.

• (2) The Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1949, and this Act may be cited together as the Fisheries Acts, 1842 to 1953.