The Ministers may, F10whenever it appears to them necessary or expedient, by order make provision for regulating the conduct of, and safeguarding, fishing operations and operations ancillary thereto, including provision with respect to the identification and marking of fishing boats and fishing gear.

The Ministers may by order make such provision as is mentioned in subsection (1) above with respect to foreign fishing boats which, in pursuance of an arrangement for the time being in force between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the government of any other country, enter F14relevantF15British fishery limits for the purpose of carrying on fishing operations or operations ancillary thereto, including provisions regulating the movement of those boats within those limits.

Where a provision of an order under this section is not complied with in the case of a fishing boat or its crew, any person prescribed by the order in relation to that provision, being one or more of the following, that is to say the master, the owner, and the charterer, if any, shall be liable on summary conviction F16to [F17the statutory amount]F18or on conviction on indictment to a fine.

The provisions of any order under this section shall be taken to be in addition to and not to derogate from the provisions of any other enactment or any instrument made under any other enactment.

The Ministers may, F1whenever it appears to them necessary or expedient, by order make provision for regulating the conduct of, and safeguarding, fishing operations and operations ancillary thereto, including provision with respect to the identification and marking of fishing boats and fishing gear.

The Ministers may by order make such provision as is mentioned in subsection (1) above with respect to foreign fishing boats which, in pursuance of an arrangement for the time being in force between Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the government of any other country, enter F5relevantF6British fishery limits for the purpose of carrying on fishing operations or operations ancillary thereto, including provisions regulating the movement of those boats within those limits.

Where a provision of an order under this section is not complied with in the case of a fishing boat or its crew, any person prescribed by the order in relation to that provision, being one or more of the following, that is to say the master, the owner, and the charterer, if any, shall be liable on summary conviction F7to a fine not exceeding £1,000F8or on conviction on indictment to a fine.

The provisions of any order under this section shall be taken to be in addition to and not to derogate from the provisions of any other enactment or any instrument made under any other enactment.

A person falling within paragraph (b), (c) or (ca) of subsection (1) above may not exercise the powers or perform the duties of a British sea-fishery officer in any case where the person may, in the person's capacity as a marine enforcement officer, exercise the common enforcement powers conferred by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (see Chapter 1 of Part 8 of that Act).

The appropriate Minister may appoint any person to exercise and perform the powers and duties of a British sea-fishery officer subject to such limitations as may be specified in the instrument appointing him; and for the purposes of the Sea Fisheries Act a person so appointed shall be a British sea-fishery officer within those limitations, but not otherwise.

In this Act, “foreign sea-fishery officer”, in relation to any convention with respect to the conduct or safeguarding of fishing operations or operations ancillary thereto to which Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom is a party, means a person of any class specified in an order made by the Ministers, being a person appointed by the government of any other country which is a party to the convention to enforce its provisions or any other person having power under the laws of that other country to enforce those provisions.

For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of any order under section 5 above or of F25section 2 of the M1Fishery Limits Act 1976 or any order thereunder a British sea-fishery officer may exercise in relation to any fishing boat within F26British fishery limits and in relation to any British fishing boat anywhere outside those limits the powers conferred by subsection (2) to (4) below.

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.

If it appears to a British sea-fishery officer that a British fishing boat or a fishing boat belonging to a country which is party to a convention to which Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom is a party is being so navigated or stationed as to interfere or be likely to interfere with fishing operations which are being carried on, or about to be carried on, within F26British fishery limits, he may require the boat to move away or to move in a direction or to a position specified by him.

For the purpose of enforcing the collision regulations made under section F29 85 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, so far as they apply to fishing boats, a British sea-fishery officer may exercise, in relation to any fishing boat within F26British fishery limits and in relation to a British fishing boat anywhere outside those limits, the powers conferred by section F29257 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (powers to require production of ships documents), whether or not he is mentioned in that F29section, and also the powers conferred by the foregoing provisions of this section, and section F29 257 of that Act so far as it relates to the former powers shall apply accordingly.

For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of any convention with respect to the conduct or safeguarding of fishing operations to which Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom is a party a foreign sea-fishery officer may, in relation to a British fishing boat, and a British sea-fishery officer may, in relation to any foreign fishing boat, exercise anywhere within the convention area outside F30British fishery limits the powers conferred by section 8(2) and (3) above.

Nothing in this section shall authorise a British or foreign sea-fishery officer to do anything not authorised by the convention he is purporting to enforce or authorise him to exercise in relation to a boat belonging to a country which is a party to the convention any power which the government of that country has informed the other parties to the convention is not to be exercised in relation to its fishing boats.

A British sea-fishery 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 section 8 or 9 of this Act, section 15 of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 or section 27 of the Fisheries Act 1981, and a foreign sea-fishery officer shall not be liable in any such proceedings for anything done in purported exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9 of this Act, if the court is satisfied that the act was done in good faith and that there were reasonable grounds for doing it.

Subsection (2) above shall apply in relation to things done on a British fishing boat anywhere within the convention area outside F32British fishery limits by or in relation to a foreign sea-fishery officer who is exercising powers to enforce the provisions of the convention relating to that area as it applies in relation to things done on any fishing boat within those limits by or in relation to a British sea-fishery officer.

A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable F50on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 or on conviction on indictment to a fine.F50on summary conviction, or on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

In any civil or criminal proceedings a written statement purporting to be a report made by a British or foreign sea-fishery officer on matters ascertained in the course of exercising his powers under section 9 above for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of any convention mentioned in that section shall be admissible as evidence to the like extent as oral evidence to the like effect by that officer.

Subsection (1) above shall be taken to be in addition to, and not to derogate from, the provisions of any other enactment relating to the reception or admissibility of documentary evidence.

F38Sections 77(1) and 78 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (postponement of issue of, and defects in, F48warrants), as they apply to warrants of the kinds mentioned there, shall apply to a warrant of distress issued under this section in England and Wales F49....

F39Article 114(2) of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (postponement of issue of certain warrants) shall apply to a warrant of distress issued under this section in Northern Ireland as it applies to a warrant referred to in F39that paragraph.

Where on convicting a person of an offence under section 5 or 10 of this Act it appears to a court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland that personal injury or damage to property has been caused by the offence, the court may by the conviction adjudge the person convicted to pay, in addition to any fine, a reasonable sum, not exceeding £400, as compensation for the injury or damage, and the sum when recovered shall be paid to the person who has suffered the injury or damage.]

Section 12 of this Act shall apply in relation to compensation F43adjudged or ordered to be paid under this section by the master, owner, or charterer or a member of the crew of a fishing boat as it applies in relation to a fine imposed by a F43magistrates’ court or sheriff on such a person.

The provisions of this section shall not be taken to derogate from any right of a person who has suffered personal injury or damage to property in consequence of an offence under section 5 or 10 of this Act F41or section 2 of the M4Fishery Limits Act 1976 to recover damages in respect of the injury or damage in civil proceedings.