Statutory Instruments
SEA FISHERIES, ENGLAND
CONSERVATION OF SEA FISH
Made
29th September 2003
Laid before Parliament
30th September 2003
Coming into force
21st October 2003
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State concerned with the sea fishing industry in Northern Ireland in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 3 and 15(3) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967(1), and now vested in them(2), make the following Order:
1967 c. 84. Section 3 was amended by the Fishery Limits Act 1976 (c. 86), Schedule 2, paragraph 16(1), the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 (c. 26), Schedule 1 and the Scotland Act 1998 (Consequential Modifications) (No. 2) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1820), Schedule 2, paragraph 43(1), (2) and (4). Section 15(3) was substituted by the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 (c. 77), Schedule 1, paragraph 38(3) and amended by the Fishery Limits Act 1976 (c. 86), Schedule 2, paragraph 16(1) and S.I. 1999/1820, Schedule 2, paragraph 43(2)(b). See section 22(2)(a) for definitions of “the Ministers” for the purposes of sections 3 and 15(3); section 22(2) was amended by the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29), sections 19(2)(d) and 45(b) and (c) and by S.I. 1999/1820, Schedule 2, paragraph 43(12).
By virtue of article 2(a) and 2(b) of, and Schedule 1 to, the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672) the functions exercisable under sections 3 and 15(3) of the 1967 Act were transferred to the National Assembly in so far as exercisable in relation to Wales (defined in section 155(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38) as including “the sea adjacent to Wales out as far as the seaward boundary of the territorial sea”); by virtue of those provisions, the transferred functions under section 15(3) remained concurrently exercisable by the Ministers as well as the Assembly, while in respect of waters beyond Wales the functions under section 3 remain exercisable solely by the Ministers. Section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) as read with article 3(1) of, and Schedule 1 to, the Scotland Act 1998 (Concurrent Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/1592) provides for the functions under sections 3(1), (3) and (4) and 15(3) of the 1967 Act to be transferred to the Scottish Ministers in so far as it applies in or as regards Scotland, but to be exercisable by the Ministers, concurrently with Scottish Ministers, in relation to relevant British fishing boats within the Scottish zone, and Scottish fishing boats within British fishery limits but outside the Scottish zone. By virtue of article 2(1) of, and the Schedule to, the Transfer of Functions (Agriculture and Fisheries) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/1812) any remaining functions of the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales under sections 3 and 15(3) of the 1967 Act were transferred to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. By virtue of paragraphs 3(1)(b) and (m) of Schedule 1 to the Sea Fisheries (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/790), the functions of the Ministers under sections 3 (of making an order requiring nets and other fishing gear carried in Northern Ireland fishing boats or in the Northern Ireland zone to comply with prescribed requirements) and 15(3) (of making an order conferring on British sea- fishery officers powers relating to fishing boats in the Northern Ireland zone or any Northern Ireland fishing boats outside that zone) of the 1967 Act were transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. However, by virtue of paragraph 3(2), the Ministers retain a concurrent function to make an order in relation to British fishing boats, other than Northern Ireland fishing boats, within the Northern Ireland zone and to Northern Ireland fishing boats within British fishery limits but outside the Northern Ireland zone. The functions of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and one or more named Secretaries of State (however described) acting jointly were transferred to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the one or more Secretaries of State acting jointly by virtue of article 2(5) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dissolution) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/794).