UK Offence Report

Carriage and operation of fishing gears

article 5(5) of Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order (Northern Ireland) 2004 (revoked)

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

5 The person in charge of a Northern Ireland fishing boat which carries fishing gear on board in contravention of point 8 or 11 of Annex V is guilty of an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 5(5)?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Sea Fishing (Restriction on Days at Sea) Order (Northern Ireland) 2004, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
8 April 2004
In force from
9 April 2004
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 Order.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order provides for the enforcement in Northern Ireland of the provisions of Annex V (“the Annex”) to Council Regulation (EC) No. 2287/2003 (O.J. No. L344 31.12.2003. p. 1) fixing for 2004 the fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish, applicable in Community waters and, for Community vessels, in waters where catch limitations are required. The Order contains provisions relating to the aggregation of management periods (Article 3), the number of days which a vessel may be absent from port (Article 4) , the use of regulated fishing gear (Article 5) and the manner in which days may be transferred between fishing vessels within the same management period (Article 6). Further, the Order sets out provisions for the transportation of cod (Article 7), a provision relating to the mixing of species within containers on board fishing vessels (Article 8), procedures for the landing of cod in designated and non-designated ports (Articles 9 to 11), a margin of tolerance relating to the recording of catches of fish in logbooks (Article 12) and provisions relating to the maintenance of logbooks (Article 13). The Order creates offences in respect of the contravention, by the person in charge of the relevant fishing boat (or the individuals otherwise specifically referred to) of provisions of the Annex. The offences relate to absences from port without notified gear (Article 3) or in excess of the days permitted (Article 4), failure to use regulated fishing gears in the manner set out in the Annex (Article 5), giving false information when attempting to transfer days from one vessel to another (Article 6), transporting cod in a manner inconsistent with the Annex (Article 7), unlawful mixing of species (Article 8), the landing of cod in designated and non-designated ports in contravention of notification and documentary requirements (Articles 9 to 11), and failing to comply with the 8% tolerance for logbook records relating to catches of fish and failure to handover and dispatch logbooks in the manner prescribed (Articles 12 and 13). The Order provides that a person guilty of an offence under it other than an offence under Article 20 is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £50,000 and on conviction on indictment to a fine. Further fines up to and including the value of any fish caught in committing the offence are permitted and the court may also order the seizure of fish caught or equipment used in, or in activities leading to, the commission of the offence (Article 14). The Order also provides for the recovery of fines imposed, or treated as imposed, by a magistrates' court (Article 15). For the purposes of enforcing provisions of the Annex, the Order confers on British sea-fishery officers the powers to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (Articles 16 to 18). Protection of such officers from liability is set out in Article 19, and impeding them is an offence under Article 20, with a fine of up to the statutory maximum on summary conviction and a fine on conviction on indictment. Articles 21 and 22 deal with corporate and equivalent offences and admissibility of documents in evidence. Consequential amendment and revocation is carried in Articles 23 and 24. In addition Article 23 includes further provision bringing forward the time for submission of logbook entries for landings in designated ports.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same 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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 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