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FISHERIES ACT 1891

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - LONG TITLE

An Act to carry into effect an International Declaration respecting
the North Sea Fisheries, and to amend the Law relating to Sea
Fisheries and Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries.{1}
[21st July 1891]
PART I

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 1

1. The Declaration set out in the Schedule to this Act (hereinafter
referred to as the Scheduled Declaration) is hereby confirmed, and
the articles thereof shall be of the same force as if they were
enacted in the body of this Act.

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 2
Powers of Commission appointed under Declaration.

2.(1) Any commission appointed by the Board of Trade in pursuance
of Article One of the Scheduled Declaration shall, for the purpose
of its duties, have the same powers as an inspector appointed by
the Board of Trade in pursuance of section fourteen of the Merchant
Shipping Act, 1854, and sections fifteen and sixteen of that Act
shall apply as if the commission were such an inspector.

(2) Any such commission may take security, in such form as the
Board of Trade may by rule prescribe, for the attendance of a
witness before a court of justice in Belgium, and any sum which
may become due in pursuance of such a security may be recovered in
like manner as a sum due in pursuance of a security given under
the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879.

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 3
Evidence of report or certificate under Article 3 of Declaration.

3. A document purporting to be certified by a Secretary or
Assistant Secretary of the Board of Trade to be a report made or
certificate given in pursuance of Article Three of the Scheduled
Declaration shall be deemed to be such a report or certificate and
to have been duly forwarded.

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 4
Punishment for violation of Article 4 of Declaration.

4. If either within or without [British fishery limits], any person
belonging to a British sea fishing boat acts in contravention of
Article Four of the Scheduled Declaration, he shall be liable to
the like penalty as for a contravention of Articles thirteen to
twenty-two of the First Schedule to the Sea Fisheries Act, 1883.

Provided that if the Scheduled Declaration ceases to be binding on
Her Majesty, this section shall cease to apply in the case of
injuries to the gear or boat of a fisherman being a subject of
the foreign State party to the Declaration, but shall nevertheless
continue to apply as between British subjects.

S.5 rep. by 1964 c.72 s.3 sch.2; 1968 c.77 s.22 sch.2 Pt.II

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 6
Title of this Part of Act.

6.Subs.(2) rep. by 1968 c.77 s.22 sch.2 Pt.II

(3) The Sea Fisheries Act, 1883, the Sea Fisheries (Scotland)
Amendment Act, 1885, and this Part of this Act may be cited
collectively as the Sea Fisheries Acts, 1883 to 1891.

Subs.(4) rep. by SLR 1908

Explanation as to power of taking legal proceedings for enforcing
Fisheries Acts.

13. The powers conferred by ..., or this Act, ..., upon any
authorities or officers to enforce any such Act shall not be
construed as limiting or taking away the power of any other person
to take legal proceedings for the enforcement of any such Act or
of any byelaw made thereunder.

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 14
Short title.

14. This Act may be cited as the Fisheries Act, 1891.

The Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and the Government of His Majesty the
King of the Belgians, being desirous of simplifying the procedure
for the settlement of differences between British and Belgian
fishermen in the North Sea outside territorial waters, and of
reducing as much as possible the injuries they may sustain from the
fouling of their fishing gear, have agreed upon the following
provisions:

Whenever a complaint involving a claim for damages shall be
preferred by a fisherman of one of the two countries against a
fisherman of the other country, it shall be referred for preliminary
inquiryin Belgium, to a Commission composed of, at least, two
officers appointed by the Minister of Railways, Posts, and
Telegraphs; in the United Kingdom, to a Commission also composed of,
at least, two officers appointed by the Board of Trade; these
officers shall hold their inquiry at the place where the allegations
of the complainants can most easily be verified.

No complaint shall be transmitted either to the British or to the
Belgian Government, as the case may be, unless:

1.The Commission has recognized it as well founded;

2.Such fishermen as are specified by the Commission engage themselves
to appear in person in case they should be summoned to give
evidence.

The complaints must be accompanied by

1.A Report from the Commission of Inquiry;

2.A certificate from this Commission, verifying the ownership of the
lost or injured fishing gear;

3.A certificate of an expert nominated (as the case may be), in
the United Kingdom by the Board of Trade, in Belgium by the
Minister of Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs, and giving an estimate
of the damages in money value.

These certificates must be forwarded through the proper diplomatic
channel, and shall be received as evidence unless the contrary is
proved.

When a fisherman fouls or otherwise interferes with the fishing gear
of another fisherman he shall take all necessary measures for
reducing to a minimum the injuries which may result to the gear or
to the boat of the other fisherman.

In the Kingdom of Belgium the tribunal which has cognizance of an
infraction of the North Sea Fisheries Convention of the 6th May
1882, or of Article 4 of the present Declaration, shall be
empowered to award damages for injury to person or property at the
request of the injured party and at the suit of the Official
Prosecutor.

The execution of awards of damages shall be effected, on the
application of the Official Prosecutor, by the competent
Administration, which will advance the costs and recover them from
the condemned parties according to the usual process of law in such
cases.

In the United Kingdom the Court before which proceedings are taken
for the above-mentioned infractions shall be empowered, at the suit
of the Official Prosecutor on the request of the injured party, to
award damages for injury to person or property, and the Official
Prosecutor shall, at his own cost, recover the sum so awarded, or
so much thereof as is possible, from the parties liable.

The amount of damages recovered, as stipulated above, shall be
remitted free of cost to the injured party through the proper
diplomatic channel.

The High Contracting Parties engage to take, or to propose to their
respective Legislatures, the necessary measures for insuring the
execution of the present Declaration, and expecially for punishing,
either by fine or imprisonment, or both, persons who may contravene
Article IV.

The present Declaration shall be ratified, and the ratifications
shall be exchanged at Brussels as soon as possible.

The present Declaration shall come into force at a date to be
agreed upon subsequently by the High Contracting Parties.

It shall remain in force for three years from that date, and in
the event of neither of the High Contracting Parties having notified
twelve months before the expiry of the said period of three years
their intention of terminating it, shall continue to remain in force
for a year, and so on from year to year.

In witness whereof the undersigned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at Brussels of Her Majesty the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the undersigned Minister
for Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, have
drawn up the present Declaration in duplicate, and have affixed
thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at Brussels, the 2nd May 1891.

VIVIAN.

Le Prince DE CHIMAY.