(1)Subject to subsection (3), no bag net shall be placed or allowed to remain in any river or estuary or within a distance of[F1 4830 metres] from the mouth of any river.
(2)If any bag net is placed or allowed to remain in contravention of this section—
(a)it shall be deemed a common nuisance and may be taken possession of or destroyed; and
(b)the owner of the bag net shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [F2 £500] or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(3)This section shall not apply to—
(a)the placing or continuing, within[F1 4830 metres] of the mouth of a river, of a bag net, where the owner of the bag net has the exclusive right of catching salmon in the whole of that river, including all tributary rivers and lakes upon the course of that river, and where that owner or a predecessor in title of his had on or immediately before 28th July 1863 exercised that right by means of a bag net at the place where the first-mentioned bag net is placed; or
(b)the placing or continuing, in accordance with the provisions of a licence granted under section 77(2), of a bag net the erection and use of which is authorised by the licence.