UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Prohibition of Fishing with Multiple Trawls (Scotland) Order 2000

the instrument as a whole of The Prohibition of Fishing with Multiple Trawls (Scotland) Order 2000

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 sections 1(7)-(8) and

11 of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967. 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Prohibition of Fishing with Multiple Trawls (Scotland) Order 2000.

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 sections 1(7)-(8) and 11 of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967.

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
5 July 2000
In force from
3 August 2000
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 re-enacts with amendments the Norway Lobsters (Prohibition of Method of Fishing) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/1887) (“the 1993 Order”). The Order provides for stricter measures for the management and conservation of stocks pursuant to Article 46 of Council Regulation (EC) 850/98 of 30th March 1998 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms (O.J. No. L 125, 27.4.98, p.1.) (“Regulation 850/98”). The Order forms part of the law of Scotland only. The Order prohibits fishing with any trawl other than a single trawl. The prohibition in the 1993 Order related only to fishing for Norway lobsters. The prohibition in this Order is not so confined. The prohibition applies to a Scottish fishing boat wherever it may be and to any other British fishing boat within the Scottish zone (article 3 (1)). The Order introduces a definition of “single trawl” (article 2(1)). The prohibition does not apply to beam trawlers, to fishing in certain areas with a trawl having a specified mesh size of not less than 80 millimetres or to fishing in any area with a trawl having a mesh size of 100 millimetres or more (article 3(2)). An area “the Fladen Ground” was excepted from the prohibition in the 1993 Order. This Order applies the exception to an extended area “the Fladen area” (article 2(1)). In the enlarged Fladen area there is introduced a minimum mesh size of 80 millimetres for any trawl other than a single trawl (article 3(2)(b)). (Regulation 850/98 provides for a mesh size of 70 millimetres.) Amendment is also made to reflect Regulation 850/98 by removing references to “protected species”. British Sea fishery officers are given certain enforcement powers for the purpose of the enforcement of the Order (article 4). The 1993 Order is revoked (article 5). Offences are prescribed by sections 5(1) and (6) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 (c. 84) and penalties by section 11 of that Act, as amended by section 24(1) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29).

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 0.63.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.63 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