The Sea Fishing (Landing and Weighing of Herring, Mackerel and Horse Mackerel) Order 2009

Powers of British sea-fishery officers on land

12.—(1) For the purpose of enforcing this Order or an equivalent provision, a British sea-fishery officer may—

(a) enter and inspect at any reasonable time any premises used for carrying on any business in connection with the operation of fishing boats (or any connected or ancillary activities) or with the treatment, storage, weighing or sale of fish or fisheries products;

(b) bring such other persons as appear to the officer to be necessary and any equipment or materials;

(c) examine any fish or fisheries products on the premises and require persons on the premises to do anything which appears to the officer to be necessary for facilitating the examination;

(d) carry out at the premises such other inspections or tests as may reasonably be necessary, including inspections and tests relating to equipment used to weigh fish;

(e) require any person not to remove or cause to be removed any fish or fisheries products from the premises for such period as may be reasonably necessary for the purposes of establishing whether an offence under this Order or an equivalent provision has been committed;

(f) require any person on the premises to produce any documents in that person’s custody or possession relating to the catching, landing, weighing, transportation, transhipment, sale or disposal of any fish or fisheries products or to the entry to, or exit from, any port or harbour by any fishing boat;

(g) for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person present has committed an offence under this Order or an equivalent provision, search the premises for any such document and require any person present to do anything which appears to the officer to be necessary for facilitating the search;

(h) inspect and take copies of any such document produced or found on the premises;

(i) require any appropriate or responsible person to render any such document on a computer system into a visible and legible form, including requiring it to be produced in a form in which it may be taken away; and

(j) if the officer has reason to suspect that an offence under this Order or an equivalent provision has been committed, seize and detain any such document produced or found on the premises for the purpose of enabling it to be used as evidence in proceedings in connection with any offence under this Order or an equivalent provision.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) also apply in relation to any land used in connection with any of the activities described in paragraph (1)(a), or in respect of any vehicle which a British sea‑fishery officer has reasonable cause to believe is being used to transport fish or fisheries products, as they apply in relation to premises and, in the case of a vehicle, include power to require the vehicle to stop at any time and, if necessary, direct the vehicle to some other place to facilitate the inspection.