(1)With a view to enforcing any order under section 1 of this Act, and with a view to enforcing section 2 thereof, any of the following officers, that is to say—
(a)any officer authorised by the appropriate Minister,
[F1(aa)any British sea-fishery officer]
(b)any police officer,
(c)any officer of a market authority, acting within the limits of any market which that authority has power to regulate,
(d)any fishery officer of a local fisheries committee acting within the district of the committee, and
(e)any officer authorised by the Fishmongers’ Company and acting within the City of London,
may, at all reasonable times, go on board any fishing boat or enter any premises used for carrying on any business in connection with the treatment, storage or sale of sea fish, may search for and examine any sea fish in any place, whether on board a fishing boat or elsewhere, and whether in a receptacle or not, and may seize any sea fish which have been landed, sold or exposed or offered for sale by any person in contravention of the said section 1, or which any person has in his possession in contravention of the said section 1 or 2, as the case may be.
[F2(1A)Any person who assaults an officer who is exercising any of the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) above or wilfully obstructs an officer in the exercise of any of those powers shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or on conviction on indictment to a fine.]
(2)For the purposes of this section the district of a local fisheries committee shall be deemed to extend throughout the area of any council liable to pay, or contribute to the payment of, the expenses of the committee, except that the powers conferred by this section on the committee or any officer thereof shall not be exercisable in respect of any matter arising within the limits of any market under the control of the council of any county borough or [F3district.]
[F4(3)An officer shall not be liable in any civil or criminal proceedings for anything done in the purported exercise of the powers conferred on him by this section if the court is satisfied that the act was done in good faith and there were reasonable grounds for doing it.]
Textual Amendments
F1S. 16(1)(aa) inserted by Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29, SIF 52:1), s. 25(3)
F2S. 16(1A) inserted by Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29, SIF 52:1), s. 25(4)
F3Words substituted by virtue of Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70), s. 179(3)
F4S. 16(3) inserted by Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29, SIF 52:1), s.25(5)