Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
CENTRE COMMENT* FROM U.W.I.S.T. LOCAL SEA FISHERIES: THE LEGISLATIVE NET
John Gibson
M.A. (Oxon.)
In August, 1978, an article was printed in these pages criticising the delimitation of British sea fisheries districts.1 In particular, it was objected that the jurisdictional scope of local fisheries committees remained theoretically confined within obsolete 19th century boundaries that ignored the modern definition of territorial waters. It might appear to be a cause for satisfaction, therefore, that statutory instruments have now been published which declare that the three-mile limit of sea fisheries districts shall henceforth be measured from the baselines of the territorial sea.2 Yet, although the removal of an incongruous anomaly deserves to be welcomed, the method whereby this objective has been achieved betrays deficiencies in the legislative process that diminish the value of the reform.
The local regime of inshore fisheries in England and Wales exists by virtue of the Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts 1888 (repealed) and 1966. These statutes have successively empowered the Board of Trade, the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food3 to make orders dividing the coast into sea fisheries districts and constituting committees for their management. The committees, whose members comprise county councillors, ministerial nominees and representatives of water authorities, promote byelaws for the conservation of commercial species other than salmon and migratory trout, and appoint fishery officers to enforce their observance. Restrictive powers are also exercised in relation to the discharge of noxious substances,4 although that function will be ceded to water authorities when Part II of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 is implemented.
* Centre for Marine Law and Policy. University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology.
1 J. Gibson, “The delimitation of sea fisheries districts” [1978] 3 LMCLQ 495.
2 Southern Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1978, S.I. 1978 No. 1715; Cornwall Sea Fisheries District (Variation Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 805; Cumbria Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 806; Devon Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 807; Eastern Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 808; Isles of Scilly Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 809; Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 810; North-Eastern Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 811; Northumberland Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 812; Sussex Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 813; Lancashire and Western Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 822; South Wales Sea Fisheries District (Variation) Order 1980, S.I. 1980 No. 823.
The orders also draw lines across rivers flowing into the sea, so as to define the boundaries between the districts and the areas in which water authorites have the powers of local fisheries committees. In addition, the common borders of the Eastern, North-Eastern and Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries Districts have been revised.
3 In Wales, the power has been transferred to the Secretary of State for Wales by the Transfer of Functions (Wales) (No. 1) Order 1978, S.I. 1978 No. 272.
4 Sea Fisheries Regulation Act 1966, S. 5(1)(c), prospectively repealed by the Control of Pollution Act 1974, s. 108, Sched. 4.
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