British Fishing Boats Act 1983

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

(1) The powers conferred by the following provisions of this section are exercisable by British sea-fishery officers, in relation to any British fishing boat within a restricted fishing area, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of section 1 of this Act.

(2) Any such officer may go on board any such 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) Any such officer may require the attendance of the master and other persons on board any boat he has boarded under subsection (2) above and may make any examination and inquiry which appears to him to be necessary for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of section 1 of this Act.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) above, any such officer—

(a) may require any person on board any such boat to produce any document he has with him on board that is or may be relevant for determining his nationality and any document relating to the boat, to its fishing operations or other operations ancillary to its fishing operations or to persons on board which is in his custody or possession, and may take copies of any such document;

(b) for the purpose of ascertaining whether an offence under section 1 of this Act has been committed in relation to any such boat, 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

(c) if he has reason to suspect that any such offence has been committed in relation to any such boat, 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 paragraph (c) above shall permit any document required by law to be carried on board the boat to be seized except while the boat is detained in a port.

(5) Where it appears to any such officer that an offence under section 1 of this Act has been committed in relation to any fishing boat, he may—

(a) require the master of the boat 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 boat 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.