Statutory Instruments
1999 No. 74

SEA FISHERIES
CONSERVATION OF SEA FISH
The Sea Fish (Specified Sea Area) (Regulation of Nets and Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Variation) Order 1999

Made
14th January 1999

Laid before Parliament
21st January 1999

Coming into force
15th February 1999

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State respectively concerned with the sea fishing industry in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 3(1) and (3), 5(1), 15(3), 20(1) and 22(2)(a) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967(1), and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Order:

Title and commencement

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Sea Fish (Specified Sea Area) (Regulation of Nets and Prohibition of Fishing Methods) (Variation) Order 1999, and shall come into force on 15th February 1999.

Variation

2.—(1) The Sea Fish (Specified Sea Area) (Regulation of Nets and Prohibition of Fishing Methods) Order 1989(2) shall be varied in accordance with the following paragraphs of this article.

(2) In paragraph (1)(a) of article 2 for the words “65 millimetres” there shall be substituted the words “71 millimetres”.

(3) For paragraph (b) of article 3 there shall be substituted the following new paragraph:

“(b)The carriage of drift nets, beach seines, and ring nets or the use of such nets where they are attended in that area of sea bounded by a line beginning at the southernmost point of Portland Bill (002°27'18" west longitude); thence due south to 050°30'00" north latitude; thence due east to 000°47'06" west longitude; thence due north to the southernmost tip of Selsey Bill.”.

Elliot Morley
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
12th January 1999

Sewel
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office
14th January 1999

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales

Jon Owen Jones
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office
12th January 1999

Marjorie Mowlam
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
12th January 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order varies the Sea Fish (Specified Sea Area) (Regulation of Nets and Prohibition of Fishing Methods) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/1284).
The Order varies the minimum mesh size of gill and other specified nets which are prohibited in the specified area, from 65 millimetres to 71 millimetres (article 2(2)). This brings the mesh size range for the gill nets and other nets covered by this Order into line with the mesh size ranges of gill nets which are governed by Council Regulation (EC) 850/98 (O.J. L125 27.4.98 p.1.).
The Order also reduces the area in which the derogation from the prohibition on the use of gill and other specified nets of certain mesh sizes applies (article 2(3)).
A single regulatory impact assessment has been prepared in relation to both this Order and the Bass (Specified Areas) (Prohibition of Fishing) (Variation) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/75) and deposited in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies may be obtained from:

Fisheries Division III

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Room 421d Nobel House

17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3JR



(1)
1967 c. 84; section 5(1) was substituted by section 22(1) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29); section 15(3) was substituted by paragraph 38(3) of Schedule 1 to the Sea Fisheries Act 1968 (c. 77); sections 3 and 15 were amended by section 9(1) of, and paragraph 16(1) of Schedule 2 to, the Fishery Limits Act 1976 (c. 86); section 22(2) which contains a definition of the “Ministers” for the purposes of sections 3, 5 and 15 was amended by sections 19(2) and 45 of the Fisheries Act 1981.

(2)
S.I. 1989/1284.