UK Offence Report

Contravention of Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008

the instrument as a whole of Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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) 2008.

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 October 2008
In force from
17 November 2008
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.

These Regulations revoke and replace the Sea Fish (Minimum Size) (No 2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1983, the Conservation of Scallops Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 and The Inshore Fishing (Daily Close Time for Scallops) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000. The Regulations prohibit:— a fishing for scallops by any means within the defined area during the times specified; b the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a scallop dredge or system of scallop dredges with a width, or in the case of a system of scallop dredges, an aggregate width, of more than 915 cms; c the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a scallop dredge with more than 9 teeth per dredge; d the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a scallop dredge with a tooth spacing between the internal edges of less than 75mm on the dredge or tooth bar; e the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a scallop dredge with belly rings having a clear opening of less than 75mm internal diameter; f the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a scallop dredge with a mesh size of less than 100mm in the netting cover; g the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a French dredge; h the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a tow bar which exceeds 5.5 metres in length; i the use or carriage on board any British fishing boat a tow bar 5.5 metres or less in length which is constructed in such a way as to enable more than six scallop dredges to be attached to it at the same time; j fishing for scallops within the defined area using more than 6 scallop dredges from each side of any British fishing boat; k taking scallops by diving during the period 1st June to 31st October both days inclusive, in any year with in the defined area except for Strangford Lough; l a person, within the defined area, taking by diving or landing, bringing to land, or retaining on board any British fishing boat scallops of a size less than 110mm; m a person who, within the defined area, catches fish by any means other than a scallop dredge taking and retaining on board a British fishing boat, scallops which are more than 1% by weight of the total of all fish on board. The Regulations do not apply to:— a fishing from a sea fishing boat other than a British sea fishing boat; or b 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. 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). These Regulations were notified in draft to the European commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC.

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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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