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The Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998


Published: 1998-09-24

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Statutory Instruments
1998 No. 2409

RIVER, ENGLAND AND WALES
SALMON AND FRESHWATER FISHERIES
The Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998

Made
24th September 1998

Laid before Parliament
30th September 1998

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2)
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in relation to England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, in relation to Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 1(1) of the Import of Live Fish (England and Wales) Act 1980(1) and all other powers enabling them in that behalf; and, in accordance with section 1(2) of the Act, after consultation with the Nature Conservancy Council for England and the Countryside Council for Wales and such other persons as the Minister and the Secretary of State consider appropriate; and being of the opinion that the species of live fish to which this Order applies might compete with, displace, prey on or harm the habitat of any freshwater fish, shellfish or salmon in England and Wales, hereby make the following Order:

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998 and shall extend to England and Wales.

(2) This Order shall come into force–

(a)in relation to fish first kept before 1st November 1998, on 1st May 1999; and

(b)in relation to fish first kept or released on or after 1st November 1998, on that date.

Prohibition of keeping or release of specified fish

2.  No person shall keep or release in any part of England and Wales any live fish of the species specified in the Schedule to this Order, except under the authority of a licence granted by the Minister.

Elliot Morley
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
21st September 1998

Jon Owen Jones
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office
24th September 1998

Article 2

SCHEDULESPECIES OF FISH WHOSE KEEPING OR RELEASE IN ANY PART OF ENGLAND AND WALES IS PROHIBITED EXCEPT UNDER AUTHORITY OF A LICENCE GRANTED BY THE MINISTER

COMMON NAME
SCIENTIFIC NAME

American brook trout
Salvelinus fontinalis

Asp
Aspius aspius

Big-head carp
Aristicthys nobilis

Bitterling
Rhodeus sericeus

Blageon
Leuciscus souffia

Blue bream
Abramis ballerus

Burbot
Lota lota

Catfish
species of the genera Ictalurus and Silurus

Chinese black or snail-eating carp
Mylopharyngodon piceus

Danubian bleak
Chalcalburnus chalcoides

Grass carp
Ctenopharyngodon idella

Landlocked salmon
non-anadromous varieties of the species Salmo salar

Large-mouthed black bass
Micropterus salmoides

Mediterranean barbel
Barbus meridionalis

Nase
Chondrostoma nasus

Pacific salmon and trout (excluding rainbow trout but including steelheads)
species of the genus Oncorhynchus

Paddlefish
species of the genera Polyodon and Psepherus

Pike-perch (including zander)
species of the genus Stizostedion

Pumpkinseed
Lepomis gibbosus

Rock bass
Ambloplites rupestris

Schneider
Alburnoides bipunctatus

Silver carp
Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

Sturgeon or sterlet
species of the genera Acipenser, Huso, Pseudoscaphirhynchus and Scaphirhynchus

Topmouth gudgeon
Pseudorasbora parva

Toxostome (or French nase)
Chondrostoma toxostoma

Vimba
Vimba vimba

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order, which is made under section 1 of the Import of Live Fish (England and Wales) Act 1980 (“the Act”), and which comes into force, in relation to fish first kept before 1st November 1998, on 1st May 1999 and, in relation to all other fish, on 1st November 1998, prohibits the keeping or release in England and Wales of any species of fish specified in the Schedule to the Order, except under authority of a licence granted by the Minister.
Section 3 of the Act provides that any person who keeps or releases any of the species of fish listed in the Schedule to this Order without a valid licence or who contravenes the terms of a licence shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in relation to this Order and deposited in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from:

Fisheries Division IIB

(Aquaculture, Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries)

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Room 308, Nobel House

17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3JR.


(1)
1980 c. 27; section 1(2) was amended by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (c. 4), section 132(1)(a) and Schedule 9, paragraph 8; section 1(3) was amended by the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 24), section 37(2); see section 4 for definitions of “the Minister”, “fish” and “shellfish”.