Salmon Act 1986

District salmon fishery boards

14 District salmon fishery boards

(1) If proprietors of salmon fisheries in a salmon fishery district—

(a) form an association for the purpose of the protection or improvement of the fisheries within their district; and

(b) elect, in accordance with Schedule 2 to this Act, a committee to act for them,

that committee shall be the district salmon fishery board for that district; and the purpose of such a board shall be the purpose specified above in respect of the association.

(2) A district salmon fishery board shall have the powers and duties conferred—

(a) on them under this Act; and

(b) by any other enactment on a district board within the meaning of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Acts 1862 to 1868;

and references in any enactment, other than in this Act, to a district board within the meaning of the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Acts 1862 to 1868 shall be construed as references to a district salmon fishery board.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, a committee mentioned in subsection (1) above shall cease to be the district salmon fishery board for a district on the expiry of a period of three years from the date of the last meeting of proprietors which elected, in accordance with Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act, such members as require to be elected under Part II of that Schedule.

(4) On the coming into force of a designation order—

(a) the transitional district board for ; or

(b) the committee within the meaning of this section in respect of

a district superseded by the district so designated, as the case may be, shall cease to be a district salmon fishery board; and the committee within the meaning of this section which has been constituted in accordance with Schedule 2 to this Act in anticipation of the order and in respect of the district designated by the order shall be the district salmon fishery board for that district.

(5) If a committee ceases to be a district salmon fishery board, the assets and liabilities of that board shall be the assets and liabilities of the members of the association for which the committee acts; but, for the purposes of the winding-up of such an association, any assets of the former board remaining after the settlement of the liabilities of the former board shall be distributed amongst all the proprietors in the district who were liable to the fishery assessment immediately before the date on which the committee ceased to be such a board, according to the valuation of each fishery as entered in the valuation roll at that date.

(6) A district salmon fishery board shall not be bound by any direction given to them by the association for which the elected members of the board act as a committee.

(7) Nothing in this section shall affect the powers and duties of the River Tweed Council.

(8) The powers and duties under any enactment of district boards constituted in accordance with the Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Acts 1862 to 1868 shall cease to have effect in relation to such boards and Schedule 3 to this Act shall have effect as respects such a board which was in office immediately before the commencement of this section; and such a board is referred to in this Act as a " transitional district board ".

(9) There may be a district salmon fishery board for a district whether or not there are salmon in the waters of that district.

(10) The Secretary of State may by order vary the provisions of Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 to this Act.

(11) An order under subsection (10) above shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

15 Financial powers and duties of district salmon fishery boards

(1) Each year, a district salmon fishery board shall prepare—

(a) a report; and

(b) a statement of accounts, which shall be audited,

relating to the activities of the board ; and the clerk of the board shall call an annual meeting of qualified proprietors in the district for the purposes of considering the report and the audited accounts.

(2) A district salmon fishery board shall have power to impose an assessment, to be known as the fishery assessment, on each salmon fishery in their district.

(3) The fishery assessment shall be assessed at such uniform rate or rates as are determined for all fisheries in the district by the board and shall be exigible according to the valuation of a fishery as entered in the valuation roll.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) of section 11 of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.

(5) Arrears of fishery assessment may be recovered by—

(a) the district salmon fishery board which imposed the assessment; or

(b) the district salmon fishery board for a district created by a designation order in respect of an assessment imposed by a district salmon fishery board for a district superseded by that order; or

(c) the district salmon fishery board which replaced a transitional district board in respect of an assessment imposed by the transitional district board,

as the case may be, by action for payment of money.

(6) Any of the boards mentioned in subsection (5) above may recover arrears of fishery assesment which were due immediately before the commencement of this section under section 23 of the [1862 c. 97.] Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1862 in respect of any part of their district.

(7) The powers under subsections (5) and (6) above to recover arrears of fishery assessment include power to recover interest, chargeable at such rate as the Secretary of State shall, with the consent of the Treasury, determine, on such arrears from—

(a) in the case of recovery of arrears under subsection (5) above which have been outstanding for at least three months from the date of issue of a notice of assessment, that date; or

(b) in the case of recovery of arrears under subsection (6) above which have been outstanding for at least three months from the date of the coming into force of this section, that date,

until payment or the commencement of an action for payment, whichever is the earlier.

(8) A board may, in carrying out its purpose under this Act, borrow—

(a) an amount not exceeding twice the amount of the fishery assessment collected within the twelve month period immediately prior to the date of the decision to borrow ; or

(b) such higher sum as is approved by the proprietors of fisheries which together amount to four fifths of the total value of fisheries in the district as entered in the valuation roll.

(9) In subsection (8)(a) above, " collected " means collected in—

(a) the district for which that board is the district salmon fishery board; and

(b) if that district has been designated in an order made under section 1(2) of this Act within that twelve month period, all the districts superseded by that order.

(10) In carrying out its purpose, a district salmon fishery board may authorise expenditure, including expenditure for the acquisition of heritable property, out of sums accruing to it from—

(a) the fishery assessment;

(b) the exercise of the power, under subsection (8) above, to borrow; or

(c) any other source ;

but it shall not pay to any member of that board any salary or fees for his acting in any way as a member of or under that board.

16 General powers and duties of district salmon fishery boards

(1) A district salmon fishery board may do such acts, execute such works and incur such expenses as may appear to them expedient for—

(a) the protection or improvement of the fisheries within their district;

(b) the increase of salmon ; or

(c) the stocking of the waters of the district with salmon.

(2) The elected members of a district salmon fishery board shall, in accordance with Part II of Schedule 2 to this Act, co-opt representatives of salmon anglers and tenant netsmen.

(3) On such terms and conditions as the board think fit, a district salmon fishery board—

(a) shall appoint a person to act as clerk to the board ; and

(b) may appoint persons to act as water bailiffs, or in such other capacity as the board see fit.

(4) A district salmon fishery board may sue or be sued in the name of their clerk.

(5) References in any enactment to water bailiffs shall include references to water bailiffs appointed under this section.

17 Proceedings of district salmon fishery boards

(1) The first meeting of a district salmon fishery board shall be at the date, time and place determined by the members of the board who were elected at the meeting of qualified proprietors called under paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to this Act but in any case shall be no later than 21 days after that meting.

(2) A district salmon fishery board shall determine the quorum for their meetings.

(3) At any meeting of the board, each member shall have one vote, subject to the following exceptions—

(a) the chairman, in his capacity as such, shall have both a casting and a deliberative vote ; and

(b) a person who is both an upper proprietor and a lower proprietor by virtue of section 11(5) of this Act shall have a vote in either capacity or in both capacities according to the capacity or capacities in which he has been elected or co-opted.

(4) No act or proceeding of a district salmon fishery board shall be questioned on account of any vacancy in their membership and no defect in the qualification or appointment of any person acting as a member shall vitiate any proceedings of the board in which that member has taken part.

(5) The minutes of proceedings of district salmon fishery boards shall be signed by the chairman and shall be conclusive evidence of the proceedings ; and a meeting so minuted shall be presumed to have been duly convened and held and all members thereof to have been duly qualified.

(6) On the written request of any two members of the board, the chairman shall be bound to convene a meeting of the board within fourteen days of receiving the request and the clerk shall give notice to each member of the date, time and place of and the agenda for that meeting.

18 Tenure of office

(1) Before the expiry of a period of three years from—

(a) the first election of the members of the board ; or

(b) the last meeting of qualified proprietors called under this section

the clerk to that board shall call a meeting of qualified proprietors in that district for the purpose of electing or re-electing, in accordance with Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act, such members as require to be elected under Part II of that Schedule; and at that meeting each member of the board shall resign.

(2) The provisions of Schedule 2 to this Act, apart from paragraph 1, shall apply to further elections as they apply to the first election of the members.

(3) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, a member of a district salmon fishery board may resign at any time and where a person ceases to meet the requirements of this Act for membership of a district salmon fishery board he shall cease to be a member of that board.

(4) Where a person is both an upper and a lower proprietor by virtue of section 11(5) of this Act, subsection (3) above shall have effect as respects either or each such capacity.

(5) Where a vacancy in their number occurs, the board shall, so far and as soon as is reasonably practicable, fill that vacancy by

(a) the electing by the elected members from amongst themselves of a new chairman ;

(b) the appointing by the elected members of a qualified proprietor in the district as a representative of qualified proprietors according to the rules in Schedule 2 to this Act regarding the balance between upper and lower proprietors; and

(c) the co-opting by the board of a representative of salmon anglers or of tenant netsmen in accordance with that Schedule,

as the case may be, and a person appointed under paragraph (b) above shall be an elected representative of qualified proprietors for the purposes of this Act.