UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Sea Fish (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2016

the instrument as a whole of The Sea Fish (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2016 (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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Sea Fish (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2016.

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
12 January 2016
In force from
14 February 2016
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 prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, all methods of fishing within specified areas of the Firth of Clyde from 14th February until 30th April, during both 2016 and 2017 (articles 1(3) and 3(1)). It is made in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 46 of Council Regulation (EC) No 850/98 for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms and it remains in force until the end of 30th April 2017 (article 1(2)). The areas closed to fishing under this Order are shown on the illustrative map which accompanies this Note. The area diagonally hatched on the illustrative map is defined in article 3(1)(a). The area horizontally hatched on the illustrative map is defined in article 3(1)(b). The Order applies only to British fishing boats (article 3(1)). The prohibition does not apply to fishing boats that fish within the closed areas exclusively with scallop dredges, creels and (in relation to the area diagonally hatched on the illustrative map) trawls used for fishing for Norway lobsters (article 3(2) and (3)). However, the South Arran Marine Conservation Order 2015 imposes separate restrictions on fishing activities within part of the area described in article 3(1)(a). Article 3(4) provides that article 3(2) is not to be read as allowing fishing for sea fish within part of the area described in article 3(1)(a), where this is otherwise prohibited under that Order. It is an offence under section 5(1) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 to use a fishing boat in contravention of a prohibition imposed by this Order. The penalties are fixed by section 11 of that Act. On summary conviction, the penalty is a fine not exceeding £50,000. On conviction on indictment, the penalty is an unlimited fine. In either case, the court may also order forfeiture of any fish in respect of which the offence was committed and of any net or other fishing gear used in committing the offence. On summary conviction, if the court does not order the forfeiture of fish, it may impose an additional fine not exceeding the value of the fish. The Order revokes the Sea Fish (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Clyde) Order 2014 (article 4). A business and regulatory impact has been prepared in relation to this Order and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. A copy of this can be obtained from Marine Scotland, the Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.

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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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