1989 No. 2443

SEA FISHERIES
CONSERVATION OF SEA FISH

The Undersized Crabs (Variation) Order 1989

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State respectively concerned with the sea fishing industry in Scotland and Wales, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 1(1) and (2), 20(1) and 22(2)(b) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 19671 and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf and the said Minister, the said Secretaries of State and the Secretary of State concerned with the sea fishing industry in Northern Ireland, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 1(3) and (4), 20(1) and 22(2)(a) of the said Act and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Order:

Title and commencement1

This Order may be cited as the Undersized Crabs (Variation) Order 1989 and shall come into force on 1st February 1990.

Variation of the Undersized Crabs Order 19862

The Undersized Crabs Order 19862 shall be varied—

a

by substituting for article 5 thereof the following article:—

Prescribed minimum size for carriage of crabs on a British fishing boat.5

1

Subject to paragraph (2) of this article, for the purposes of section 1(3) of the Act (which prohibits the carriage on a British fishing boat of sea fish of any description which are of less than the minimum size prescribed in relation to sea fish of that description) there is hereby prescribed as the minimum size for edible crab a size of 125 mm.

2

In the Cumbrian sea fisheries district3 and in that area of sea lying within British fishery limits and between lines of latitude drawn through the easternmost points on the boundaries between Humberside and Lincolnshire in the North and Suffolk and Essex in the South the prescribed minimum size for edible crab for the purposes of section 1(3) of the Act shall be 115mm.

b

by substituting for the Schedule thereto the following Schedule:—

SCHEDULEMINIMUM LANDING SIZES

Article 3

Column 1

Column 2

Area for purposes of section 1(1) of the Act

Prescribed minimum size

South coast of England between the eastern boundary of East Sussex and the western boundary of Dorset

Male crabs : 140 mm Female crabs : 140 mm

The coasts of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Male crabs : 160 mm Female crabs : 140 mm

The coasts of Somerset, Avon, Gloucestershire and Wales from the southernmost point on its border with England to Cemaes Head in Dyfed at 52°07' north latitude.

Male crabs : 130 mm Female crabs : 130 mm

The coasts of Scotland, Wales from Cemaes Head to the northernmost point on its border with England, Kent, Essex, North East England between the southern boundary of Humberside and the northern boundary of Northumberland, and North West England between the western boundary of Cheshire and Haverigg Point in Cumbria at 54°11.3' north latitude.

Male crabs : 125 mm Female crabs : 125 mm

The coasts of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk and the Cumbrian sea fisheries district.

Male crabs : 115 mm Female crabs: : 115 mm

In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is hereunto affixed on

John Selwyn GummerMinister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Sanderson of BowdenMinister of State, Scottish Office
Peter WalkerSecretary of State for Wales
Peter BrookeSecretary of State for Northern Ireland

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order varies the Undersized Crabs Order 1986 which prescribes minimum sizes for the landing, sale and carriage of edible crabs (Cancer pagurus).

By virtue of this Order various increases have been made to the minimum sizes for landing and carriage.