UK Offence Report

Contravention of Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

the instrument as a whole of Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 176 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 176 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
24 February 1997
In force from
31 March 1997
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations lay down certain restrictions on fishing for scallops in the waters within British fishery limits which are adjacent to Northern Ireland. The Regulations prohibit:— a the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a scallop dredge or system of scallop dredges with a width, or in the case of a system of scallop dredges, with an aggregate width, of more than 1219 cms (40 feet); b the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a scallop dredge which has more than 9 teeth per dredge or tooth bar; c the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a scallop dredge which has a tooth spacing between internal edges of less than 75 mm on the dredge or tooth bar; d the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a scallop dredge with belly rings which have a clear opening of less than 75 mm internal diameter; e the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a scallop dredge which has a minimum mesh size of less than 100 mm in the netting cover; f the use or carriage on board any fishing vessel of a French dredge; g any person fishing for scallops in waters within British fishery limits which are adjacent to Northern Ireland with more than 8 scallop dredges per side per vessel; h diving for scallops in that part of the waters within British fishery limits which are adjacent to Northern Ireland; i the taking and having on board any vessel of scallops with a minimum size of less than 110 mm in waters within British fishery limits which are adjacent to Northern Ireland; and j the retention on board of scallops which are more than 1% by weight of the total of all catches on board when fishing with a scallop dredge in waters within British fishery limits which are adjacent to Northern Ireland for sea fish other than scallops. The Regulations do not apply to any person who is not a British citizen or to any person operating under the authority of and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a fish culture licence or a permit granted by the Department of Agriculture under sections 11 and 14 respectively of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966, as amended. Contravention of these Regulations is an offence under section 124(3) of the Act. The penalty is a fine on summary conviction not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (£5,000). The Department of Agriculture has prepared a compliance cost assessment in relation to the Regulations and a copy of that assessment is held at Fisheries Division, Annexe 5, Castle Grounds, Stormont, Belfast BT4 3PW from where a copy may be obtained on request.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.52.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.52 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source