These Regulations amend the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Satellite Monitoring Measures) (Wales) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/1078 (W.71)) (“the Order”), which contains provisions for the enforcement of European Community legislation requiring satellite monitoring of the position of fishing boats above a certain size. Like that Order, these Regulations apply in relation to fishing boats within the territorial sea adjacent to Wales.

The amendments made by these Regulations make two main changes to the Order. Regulation 4 amends article 3 of the Order, which creates obligations relating to the installation and operation of satellite tracking devices, by clarifying the requirement in article 3(3)(b) for the satellite tracking device to be maintained fully operational. In particular the new drafting makes clear that no breach of that requirement occurs either when the satellite tracking device is switched off in port under conditions permitted by the relevant EC legislation or if there is a technical fault or non-function when the boat is in port or when the temporary period for which the relevant EC legislation allows fishing with a defective device has not yet expired.

Regulation 4 imposes an additional requirement that, while a fishing boat to which article 3 of the Order applies is at sea, if its tracking device is not working the required positional information must be provided every two hours to the United Kingdom’s Fisheries Monitoring Centre by telex, fax, telephone or radio.

The other main change is made by regulation 8, which confers an additional enforcement power on a British sea fisheries officer in a case where there has been a failure of operation of the satellite tracking device on board a British fishing vessel. The officer may serve a notice requiring the boat to remain in port until the expiry of a 24 hour monitoring period, during which the satellite tracking device must be set so as to broadcast the required position information every two hours (every hour in the case of a device which is not designed to be capable of being polled by the Monitoring Centre).

Other amendments made by the Regulations are consequential. They include the revocation of a defence to certain criminal proceedings which has been made obsolete by the changes made by regulation 4 (see regulations 1(2) and 5).