Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

147 Interpretation of this Chapter

(1) In this Chapter—

• “animal” includes any egg, larva, pupa, or other immature stage of an animal;

• “appropriate authority” has the meaning given by section 116(5);

• “the appropriate statutory conservation body” means—

  (a)

  in respect of an area in England, Natural England,

  (b)

  in respect of an area in Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales,

  (c)

  in respect of an area outside the seaward limits of the territorial sea, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee;

• “emergency byelaw” has the meaning given by section 131;

• “enforcement authority” means, in relation to any area, any authority which has a function (whether or not statutory) of taking any action with a view to or in connection with the imposition of any sanction, criminal or otherwise, in a case where an offence under this Chapter is committed in that area;

• “England” includes the English inshore region;

• “interim byelaw” means a byelaw made under section 132(1);

• “interim order” means an order made under section 136(1);

• “marine installation” means any artificial island, installation or structure;

• “MCZ” means a marine conservation zone designated by an order under section 116;

• “protected feature”, in relation to an MCZ or proposed MCZ, means any flora, fauna, habitat or feature which is sought to be conserved by the making of the order designating the zone;

• “sea” has the meaning given by section 322(1), except that it does not include any waters upstream of the fresh-water limit of estuarial waters;

• “seashore” means—

  (a)

  the foreshore, that is to say, land which is covered and uncovered by the ordinary movement of the tide, and

  (b)

  any land, whether or not covered intermittently by water, which is in apparent continuity (determined by reference to the physical characteristics of that land) with the foreshore, as far landward as any natural or artificial break in that continuity;

• “vehicles” includes—

  (a)

  bicycles and other non-motorised forms of transport, and

  (b)

  hovercraft;

• “vessels” includes—

  (a)

  hovercraft,

  (b)

  aircraft capable of landing on water, and

  (c)

  any other craft capable of travelling on, in or under water, whether or not capable of carrying any person;

• “Wales” includes the Welsh inshore region.

(2) In the definition of “sea” in subsection (1) “estuarial waters” means any waters within the limits of transitional waters, within the meaning of the Water Framework Directive (that is to say, Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy).