Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967

Restrictions on commercial use of under-sized, etc., sea fish

Size limits, etc. for fish

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 9(1) of this Act, no person shall land in England and Wales any sea fish of any description which does not meet such requirements as to size as may be prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description by an order of the Ministers.

• (2) Subject to the provisions of this section, no person shall, in England and Wales, sell, expose or offer for sale or have in his possession for the purpose of sale, any sea fish of any description which does not meet such requirements as to size as may be prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description by an order of the Ministers.

• (3) Sea fish of any description which do not meet the requirements as to size prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description by an order of the appropriate national authority shall not be carried, whether within or outside relevant British fishery limits, on a relevant British vessel; and an order under this subsection may prohibit the carrying by a Scottish or Northern Ireland fishing boat or a foreign vessel in waters to which subsection (3A) applies of sea fish of any description prescribed by the order which do not meet the requirements as to size so prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description.

• (3A) This subsection applies to the sea within British fishery limits, other than the Scottish zone and the Northern Ireland zone.

“Northern Ireland zone” has the meaning given by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (see section 98 of that Act).

• (4) Different requirements as to size may be prescribed for the purposes of each of the foregoing provisions of this section; and an order under subsection (1) above may prescribe different requirements as to size in relation to different areas and in relation to fish of different sexes.

• (5) Where an order under subsection (1) above prescribes requirements as to size for fish of any description (or of any description and sex), whether generally or in relation to any particular area, then, except so far as provision to the contrary is made by such an order, a person who in England and Wales or, as the case may be, in that area lands a part of a fish of that description (or of that description and sex) shall, subject to section 9(1) of this Act, be deemed to contravene subsection (1) above if the part does not meet the requirements as to size so prescribed.

• (6) An order under this section may confer exemptions from any prohibition imposed by or by virtue of this section; and any such exemption may be general or subject to conditions and may relate to all fish to which the order applies or to fish of any specified description.

• (7) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) above shall be guilty of an offence under that subsection.

• (8) If subsection (3) above is contravened in the case of a relevant British vessel, a Scottish fishing boat or a Northern Ireland fishing boat the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be guilty of an offence under that subsection; and if a prohibition imposed by virtue of that subsection is contravened in the case of a foreign vessel, the master shall be guilty of an offence under that subsection.

• (9) In this section—

• “the appropriate national authority” means—in relation to Wales or the Welsh zone (within the meaning of the Government of Wales Act 2006), the Welsh Ministers;in any other case, the Secretary of State;

• “foreign vessel” means any vessel other than a relevant British vessel, a Scottish fishing boat or a Northern Ireland fishing boat;

• “Northern Ireland fishing boat” means a fishing boat which is registered in the United Kingdom under Part 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and whose entry in the register specifies a port in Northern Ireland as the port to which the boat is to be treated as belonging;

• “relevant British vessel” means a vessel, other than a Scottish fishing boat or a Northern Ireland fishing boat, which—is registered in the United Kingdom under Part 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, oris owned wholly by persons qualified to own British ships for the purposes of that Part of that Act.

Size limits for fish for use in course of any business

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• (1) Subject to any exemption granted under this section, no person shall in England and Wales 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(2) of this Act is prohibited from being sold in England and Wales.

• (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

Regulation of nets and other fishing gear

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• (1) The Ministers may make an order for securing that the nets and other fishing gear carried in any relevant 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 relevant British fishery limits by Scottish fishing boats or fishing boats registered in any country outside the United Kingdom or not registered in any country.

• (2A) An order under this section may be made by the appropriate national authority so as to extend to nets or other fishing gear used by any person, otherwise than from a fishing boat, for fishing for or taking sea fish in the sea within the seaward limits of the territorial sea adjacent to England and Wales.

• (2B) In subsection (2A) above “the appropriate national authority” means—

• (a) in relation to England, the Secretary of State;

• (b) in relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers.

• (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, or particular persons or persons of a particular description, 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.

• (5A) A person who contravenes an order made under this section by virtue of subsection (2A) above shall 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 order made under section 1 of the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984, or in any byelaw made, or having effect as if made, under section 5 of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966, or in any byelaw made under section 155 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, or in any regulation made, or deemed to be made, under the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966, shall be taken to authorise the carrying or use of fishing nets in circumstances where the carrying or use of those nets would otherwise be unlawful by virtue of an order made under this section.

Licensing of British fishing boats

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Power to restrict fishing for sea fish

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the appropriate national authority may make an order—

• (a) prohibiting, in any area specified in the order and either for a period so specified or without limitation of time—

• (i) all fishing for sea fish;

• (ii) fishing for any description of sea fish specified in the order;

• (iii) fishing for sea fish, or for any description of sea fish specified in the order, by any method so specified;

• (b) restricting, in any area specified in the order and either for a period so specified or without limitation of time, the amount of sea fish, or sea fish of a description specified in the order, that may, in any period so specified, be taken by—

• (i) any person;

• (ii) any fishing boat.

A person who contravenes any prohibition or restriction imposed by an order under this section shall be guilty of an offence under this subsection.

• (1A) Where any fishing boat is used in contravention of any prohibition or restriction imposed by an order under this section, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) shall each be guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above.

• (1B) An order under this section which prohibits in any area—

• (a) fishing for sea fish, or for any description of sea fish specified in the order, or

• (b) fishing for sea fish, or for any description of sea fish specified in the order, by any method so specified,

may provide that any fishing gear, or any fishing gear of a description specified in the order, of any fishing boat in that area must be stowed in accordance with provision made by the order.

• (1C) An order under this section restricting the amount of sea fish of any description that may be caught in a period specified in the order may provide that, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above, any sea fish of that description that, after being caught in that period, is returned to the sea as soon as that amount is exceeded is not to be treated as having been caught in contravention of the restriction imposed by the order.

• (2) Orders under this section may make different provision for different cases .

• (5) Any prohibition or restriction imposed by an order under this section may be made so as to have effect either at all times while the order is in force or at such times as (whether by reference to particular months, weeks, days or hours, or to any combination thereof) are specified in the order.

• (6) Where an order under this section is made by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above in respect of a description of sea fish specified in the order, and, in the course of fishing in an area so specified and at a time when a prohibition imposed by the order in relation to sea fish of that description has effect in that area, any sea fish of that description (or, if the prohibition applies only to fishing for sea fish of that description by a method specified in the order, any sea fish of that description caught by that method) are caught by a person, or taken on board a fishing boat, in contravention of the prohibition , those sea fish shall, subject to section 9 of this Act and except where the order otherwise provides, be returned to the sea forthwith.

• (6A) A person who does not comply with subsection (6) above shall be guilty of an offence under that subsection.

• (7) Where subsection (6) 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.

• (8) The only provision that may be made by an order under this section in relation to an area outside British fishery limits, or an area within the Scottish zone or the Northern Ireland zone, is provision applying to—

• (a) a British fishing boat, other than a Scottish fishing boat or a Northern Ireland fishing boat, that is registered in the United Kingdom; or

• (b) in so far as the order relates to fishing for salmon or migratory trout, a fishing boat which is British-owned but not registered under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

• (9) In this section—

• “the appropriate national authority” means—in relation to Wales or the Welsh zone (within the meaning of the Government of Wales Act 2006), the Welsh Ministers;in any other case, the Secretary of State;

• “Northern Ireland fishing boat” means a fishing boat which is registered in the United Kingdom under Part 2 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and whose entry in the register specifies a port in Northern Ireland as the port to which the boat is to be treated as belonging;

• “Northern Ireland zone” has the meaning given by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (see section 98 of that Act).

Regulation of the landing of sea fish

Prohibition on landing of sea fish caught in certain areas

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• (1) The Ministers, after consultation with the Secretary of State for Trade, may by order prohibit, in accordance with the provisions of this section, the landing in England and Wales and Northern Ireland of sea fish, or any particular description of sea fish, being fish caught in any such waters as may be specified in the order.

• (1A) The Ministers, after consultation with the Secretary of State for Trade, may by order prohibit, in accordance with the provisions of this section, the trans-shipment within relevant British fishery limits of sea fish, or any particular description of sea fish, being fish caught in any such waters as may be specified in the order.

• (2) Any prohibition imposed by an order under this section in relation to sea fish, or any particular description of sea fish, caught in any waters specified in the order may be so imposed either for a period specified in the order or without limitation of time, and either free from, or subject to, all or any, or any combination, of the following limitations, that is to say, limitations whereby the prohibition has effect in relation to sea fish, or sea fish of that description, as the case may be—

• (a) caught while in a condition specified in the order and not while in any other condition, or caught while in any condition except a condition so specified;

• (b) caught by a method specified in the order and not by any other method, or caught by any method except a method so specified;

• (c) caught at any such times as (whether by reference to particular months, weeks, days or hours, or to any combination thereof) are specified in the order.

• (3) Without prejudice to subsection (2) above, any prohibition imposed by an order under this section may be imposed subject to such exceptions as may be specified in the order.

• (4) Where an order is made under this section the enactments relating to customs shall apply accordingly, but no steps shall be taken under those enactments for the purposes of this section by any officer of customs and excise except at the request of an officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the ... the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland or of a member of the staff of the Scottish Administration, as the case may be.

• (5) If any sea fish are landed from a vessel in contravention of an order under this section, the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) of the vessel shall each be guilty of an offence under this subsection.

• (5A) If any sea fish are—

• (a) trans-shipped into a vessel in contravention of an order under this section; or

• (b) trans-shipped from a vessel in contravention of such an order,

the master, the owner and the charterer (if any) of the vessel shall each be guilty of an offence under this subsection.

• (6) In this and the next following section “sea fish” includes salmon and migratory trout.

Declarations required for purposes of orders under s. 6

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• (1) Any British sea-fishery officer may serve on the master of any vessel a notice in writing under the hand of the officer requiring the master to make, on each occasion when any sea fish are about to be landed in England and Wales or Northern Ireland from that vessel while any order under section 6(1) of this Act is in force, a written declaration that those sea fish are not sea fish the landing of which is prohibited by the order, and to deliver the declaration, before any of the sea fish are landed, to such person, or at such place, in the port of landing as may be specified in the notice:

• (2) Where any sea fish are brought to land in England and Wales or Northern Ireland in any vessel, any British sea-fishery officer may, at any time before the vessel next puts out to sea, request the master to make, in respect of any of those sea fish which have been, or are being, or are about to be, landed from the vessel while any order under section 6(1) of this Act is in force a written declaration that the sea fish in question are not sea fish the landing of which is prohibited by the order, and to deliver the declaration to the officer or to such person, or at such place, in the port of landing as he may designate.

Nothing in this subsection shall be taken to affect the operation of subsection (1) above.