Title, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Saithe (Specified Sea Areas) (Prohibition of Fishing) Order 1991 and shall come into force on 20th December 1991.

(2) In this Order-

"British fishing boat" means a fishing boat which is registered in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands or which, not being so registered, is British owned;

"sea area" means a statistical sub-area or division of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea(2) specified in the Schedule hereto.

Prohibition and exception

2.-(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, fishing for saithe (Pollachius virens)-

(a)by any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom within any part of a sea area; or

(b)by any other British fishing boat within any part of a sea area which lies within British Fishery limits,

is prohibited during the period beginning with the date of coming into force of this Order and ending immediately before 1at January 1992.

(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1)(a) above shall not apply to fishing within that part of the sea area ICES IIa (Norwegian Sea) which lies outside British fishery limits.

Powers of British sea-fishery officers in relation to fishing boats

3.-(1) For the purpose of the enforcement of this Order a British sea-fishery officer may exercise the powers conferred by paragraphs (2) to (4) below-

(a)anywhere in relation to any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom; and

(b)in any waters adjacent to the United Kingdom and within British fishery limits in relation to any other British fishing boat.

(2) He may go on board the boat, with or without persons assigned to assist him in his duties, and for that purpose may require the boat to stop and do anything else which will facilitate the boarding of the boat.

(3) He may require the attendance of the master and other persons on board the boat and may make any examination and inquiry which appears to him to be necessary for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (1) above and, in particular-

(a)may examine any fish on the boat and the equipment of the boat, including the fishing gear, and require persons on board the baot to do anything which appears to him to be necessary for facilitating the examination;

(b)may require any person on board the boat to produce any document relating to the boat, to its fishing operations or other operations ancillary thereto or to the persons on board which is in his custody or possession and may take copies of any such document;

(c)for the purpose of ascertaining whether the master, owner or charterer of the boat has committed an offence under section 5(1) or (6) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967(3) as read with this Order, may search the boat for any such document and may require any person on board the boat to do anything which appears to him to be necessary for facilitating the search; and

(d)where the boat is one in relation to which he has reason to suspect that such an offence has been committed, may seize and detain any such document produced to him or found on board for the purpose of enabling the document to be used as evidence in proceedings for the offence;

but nothing in sub-paragraph (d) above shall permit any document required by law to be carried on board the boat to be seized and detained except while the boat is detained in a port.

(4) Where it appears to a British sea-fishery officer that a contravention of this Order has at any time taken place within British fishery limits, he may-

(a)require the master of the boat in relation to which the contravention took place to take, or may himself take, the boat and its crew to the port which appears to him to be the nearest convenient port; and

(b)detain or require the master to detain the baot in the port;

and where such an officer detains or requires the detention of a boat he shall serve on the master a notice in writing stating that the boat will be or is required to be detained until the notice is withdrawn by the service on the master of a further notice in writing signed by a British sea-fishery officer.

Article 1(2)

SCHEDULESEA AREAS IN RESPECT OF WHICH PROHIBITION OF FISHING FOR SAITHE APPLIES

ICES Statistical Division IIa (Norwegian Sea)

The waters bounded by a line beginning at a point on the coast of Norway in 62°00' north latitude; thence due west to 4°00' west longitude; thence due north 63°00' north latitude; thence due west to 11°00' west longitude; thence due north to 73°30' north latitude; thence due east 30°00' east longitude; thence due south to 72°00' north latitude; thence due west to 26°00' east longitude; thence due south to the coast of Norway; thence in a westerly and south-westerly direction along the coast of Norway to the point of beginning.

ICES Statistical Sub-Area IV (North Sea)

The waters bounded by a line beginning at a point on the coast of Norway in 62°00' north latitude; thence due west 4°00' west longitude; thence due south to the coast of Scotland; thence in an easterly and southerly direction along the coasts of Scotland and England to a point in 51°00' north latitude; thence due east to the coast of France; thence in a north-easterly direction along the coasts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany to the western terminus of its boundary with Denmark; thence along the west coast of Jutland to Thyboron; thence in a southerly and easterly direction along the south coasts of the Limfjord to Egensekloster Point; thence across the eastern entrance of the Limfjord to Hals; thence in a westerly direction along the north coast of Limfjord to the southernmost point of Agger Tange; thence in a northerly direction along the west coast of Jutland to a point 57°00' north latitude; thence due west to 8°00' east longitude; thence due north to 57°30' north latitude; thence due west 7°00' east longitude; thence due north to the coast of Norway; thence in a north-westerly direction along the coast of Norwat to the point of beginning.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not Part of the Order)

This Order prohibits, subject to an exception, fishing for saithe (Pollachius virens) during the period beginning with the date of coming into force of the Order and ending immediately before 1st January 1992-

(a)by any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom within any part of a sea area specified in the Schedule to the Order, or

(b)by any British fishing boat registered in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands or by any British-owned fishing boat within any part of such a sea area which lies within British fishery limits (article 2).

By virtue of section 5(6) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 (as amended by section 22(2) of the Fisheries Act 1981), where, in the course of any fishing operations conducted in any of the above-mentioned sea areas, saithe are taken on board a boat to which this Order applies, those fish shall (subject to section 9 of that Act) be returned to the sea forthwith.

British sea-fishery officers are given certain enforcement powers for the purpose of the enforcement of the Order (article 3).