Title, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) This Order may be cited as the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota Measures) (Amendment) Order 1996 and shall come into force on 11 October 1996.

(2) In this Order "the principal Order" means the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota Measures) Order 1996(2).

Amendment of the principal Order

2. The principal Order shall be amended in accordance with articles 3 and 4 of this Order.

3. In article 2 of the principal Order-

(a)for paragraph (1) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(1) In this Order-

"British fishing boat" means a boat which is registered in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands;

"Regulation 3074/95" means Council Regulation (EC) No. 3074/95 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1996 and certain conditions under which they may be fished(3) as amended(4);

"Regulation 1602/96" means Council Regulation (EC) No. 1602/96 fixing special management measures for North Sea herring and amending Regulation (EC) No. 3074/95(5);

"specified Community provision" means a provision of a regulation of the European Community referred to in column 1 of the Schedule to this Order which is specified in column 2 of that Schedule, opposite the reference to that regulation, as read with any qualifying words relating to that provision in that column.";

(b)at the end of the article there shall be inserted the following paragraph-

"(3) For the purpose of the prohibition contained in Article 1 of Regulation 1602/96 the harbours at which a fishing boat to which this Order applies may land catches of fish containing unsorted herring are-

(a)Aberdeen;

(b)Lerwick;

(c)any other harbour within British fishery limits whose sampling systems a British sea-fishery officer at that harbour decides, having regard to the overall size and characteristics of the catch, to be adequate for the purpose following application by the master of the boat to a British sea-fishery officer at that harbour before the landing of the catch,

and where a British sea-fishery officer has made a decision as to the adequacy of a harbour in accordance with sub-paragraph (c) above he shall notify the master of the boat accordingly.".

4. For the Schedule to the principal Order there shall be substituted the Schedule to this Order.

Article 4

SCHEDULECONTAINING A NEW SCHEDULE TO THE PRINCIPAL ORDER

Articles 2(1) and 4(1)

"SCHEDULESPECIFIED COMMUNITY PROVISIONS AND MAXIMUM FINES ON SUMMARY CONVICTION (APART FROM FINES RELATED TO VALUE OF FISH)

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota Measures) Order 1996 ("the principal Order"), which makes provision for the enforcement of certain of the enforceable Community restrictions and other obligations relating to sea fishing set out in Council Regulation (EC) No. 3074/95 fixing, for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks, the total allowable catches for 1996 and certain conditions under which they may be fished ("the First Council Regulation"). The Order is needed as a result of amendments to the First Council Regulation and other special provisions made by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1602/96 fixing special management measures for North Sea herring ("the Second Council Regulation"). Both the First and Second Council Regulations apply until 31st December 1996.

The Order replaces the Schedule to the principal Order and creates new offences in respect of the following prohibitions contained in the Second Council Regulation:

(a)a prohibition on the landing of catches containing unsorted herring in harbours where adequate sampling systems are not in place (Article 1 of the Second Council Regulation);

(b)a prohibition on the offering for sale for human consumption of herring landed by vessels carrying towed nets of a minimum mesh size less than 32mm (Article 6.3 of the Second Council Regulation);

(c)a prohibition on the landing of catches which are unsorted and contain herring when the catch limitations set out in Annex II to the first Council Regulation have been exhausted (Article 7.1 of the Second Council Regulation, which inserted a new Article 5.2a of the first Council Regulation).

The penalty for each of these new offences is the statutory maximum, which is currently £5,000, and may include the forfeiture of fish, nets and other fishing gear (see article 4 of the principal Order).