UK Offence Report

Offences, penalties and jurisdiction

regulation 22(1) of The Sea Fisheries (Remote Electronic Monitoring and Regulation of Scallop Fishing) (Scotland) Regulations 2024

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

1 The master, the owner and the charterer (if any) of a relevant pelagic boat each commit an offence if any of the requirements of regulations 14(4), 15(1) to (4), and 17 to 20 are contravened.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 master
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 master 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 regulation 22(1)?

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 Fisheries (Remote Electronic Monitoring and Regulation of Scallop Fishing) (Scotland) Regulations 2024, 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
6 June 2024
In force from
7 June 2024
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 place new requirements on scallop and pelagic fishing boats in respect of remote electronic monitoring systems (“REM systems”) and amend and partially revoke the Regulation of Scallop Fishing (Scotland) Order 2017. Part 2 of these Regulations makes provision for REM system requirements for scallop fishing boats and Part 3 for pelagic fishing boats. The provisions apply to fishing trips in the Scottish zone and, for Scottish fishing boats, to fishing trips wherever they are undertaken. The Part 2 provisions for scallop fishing boats include— requirements to have an REM system installed and fully functional throughout the duration of a fishing trip (regulation 5); powers for the Scottish Ministers to specify the technical specifications for REM systems and to grant exemptions from any specified requirement concerning automatic transmission of video recording data (regulation 6); duties to retain REM data recorded in relation to a fishing trip for 1 year and make that data available to the Scottish Ministers on request during that period, as well as a power for the Scottish Ministers to grant exemptions from those duties (regulation 7); requirements to submit and update information and for a remote inspection and system test trip following the first installation or the replacement of an REM system (regulation 8); requirements where an REM system fails or malfunctions before the start of or during a fishing trip (regulation 9); requirements where a winch sensor forming part of an REM system fails or malfunctions (regulation 10); prohibitions on tampering or interfering with REM systems (regulation 11); and offences, penalties and provision for the jurisdiction for trying those offences (regulation 12). Part 3 makes broadly equivalent provision for pelagic fishing boats, however, the following content is specific to Part 3— provision is made for a 6 month transitional period to come into force on 7 September 2025, before the rest of Part 3 comes into force on 7 March 2026 (regulations 1(2)(c) and (d) and 14). By the end of this transitional period and before the rest of Part 3 comes into force, a number of requirements in relation to pelagic boats must be met, including that an REM system has been installed, specified information has been submitted to the Scottish Ministers, and that a remote inspection and system test trip have been carried out; a power is conferred on the Scottish Ministers to request that data recorded by an REM system in relation to a fishing trip is securely transmitted to a data storage system to which they have access within 72 hours of the time the request is received (regulation 18); and provision is made for requirements where an REM system fails or malfunctions before the start of or during a fishing trip, however, no separate provision is made in relation to winch sensor failures or malfunctions (regulation 20). The terms defined at section 52 of the Fisheries Act 2020 (c. 22) apply to Parts 1 to 3 of these Regulations. For the purpose of enforcing Parts 2 and 3 of these Regulations, by virtue of section 35 of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2013 (asp 7), a British sea-fishery officer has the powers conferred by sections 36 and 39 of that Act and by Part 7 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 5). By virtue of section 25 of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 12), where a fixed penalty officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person has committed an offence under regulation 12 or regulation 22, the officer may issue that person with a fixed penalty notice. Regulation 23 amends the Regulation of Scallop Fishing (Scotland) Order 2017 (“the Order”) which relates to fishing for king scallops in the Scottish zone and landing king scallops in Scotland. Article 5 of the Order is being revoked as the provisions of the current articles 4 and 5 of the Order are being consolidated into a new version of article 4 which is being substituted into the Order. In addition to this consolidation, three substantive amendments are made to the rules governing fishing for king scallops in the Scottish zone. These rules are now set out in article 4 of the Order, as amended. Firstly, restrictions on the maximum number of scallop dredges which can be deployed by a fishing boat for the purpose of fishing for king scallops (8 scallop dredges from each of the port and starboard sides of the fishing boat and 16 scallop dredges in total) which previously only applied in Scottish inshore waters are extended so that these restrictions will also apply to fishing for king scallops in any other part of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland. Secondly, a fishing boat deploying scallop dredges for that purpose in any part of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland must not deploy at any time any tow bar with a total length exceeding 7.5 metres or more than 2 tow bars. Thirdly, an exemption is introduced which would, if and so long as a fishing boat complies with the two conditions to qualify for it, exempt a fishing boat from the restrictions on the use of tow bars and on the maximum number of scallop dredges which can be deployed for the purpose of fishing for king scallops in any part of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland, other than in Scottish inshore waters. To comply with the first condition, a fishing boat must have an historic track record of having undertaken at least one fishing trip at any time during the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020 (inclusive of both dates) to fish for king scallops in any part of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland, other than in Scottish inshore waters, during which it deployed either 9 or 10 scallop dredges from each of its port and starboard sides while a remote electronic monitoring system which complied with the requirements of Article 6(4) of the Order (as they applied during that period) was installed on board. To comply with the second condition, the fishing boat, while fishing for king scallops in any part of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Scotland, other than in Scottish inshore waters, must not deploy at any time more than 10 scallop dredges from each of its port and starboard sides or more than 20 scallop dredges in total. Regulation 23(4) revokes article 6 of the Order, which is superseded by the provision made in Part 2 of these Regulations. A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in relation to these Regulations and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. A copy of this can be obtained from Marine Directorate, the Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ.

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 “commits 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