This Bill had its origins in the Seanad and all the spadework has been done by my predecessor, Deputy Brian Lenihan. I am pleased to make my debut in the Seanad to complete the good work that he started.
The Fisheries Bill, 1979, was passed recently by Dáil Éireann. During its passage through the Dáil 92 amendments as shown on the list accompanying the green print of the Bill were agreed to. Most of the amendments were introduced as a result of views expressed by Deputies during the course of debate or following the receipt of submissions about the Bill from interested organisations. The purport of these amendments is as follows:
Amendments Nos. 1 and 57 are amendments to the Foyle Fisheries Acts and have the effect of enabling authorised persons to lie in wait for possible poachers on the banks of rivers. Heretofore authorised persons had power only to enter and pass along the banks of rivers and the Foyle Acts were successfully challenged in this area in recent times. It is necessary therefore to amend the Acts to rectify this omission.
The Fisheries Bill, 1979, as passed by this House contained the usual provisions covering the disqualification of Members of the Oireachtas from membership of or employment by the central or regional boards. It is necessary to apply a similar disqualification to members of the European Parliament, and that is the purport of amendments Nos. 2, 3, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 61, 63, and 65.
It has been decided to define a strokehaul because lack of a definition has raised problems in court from time to time resulting in failure to secure convictions and that is the purport of amendment No. 5.
Amendments Nos. 6 and 11 will enable the central board to continue the important research on certain species of sea fish which is being carried on at present by the Inland Fisheries Trust.
There was not provision in all cases for the repeal or amendment of orders made under the Bill and this has now been provided for in amendments Nos. 7, 16, 22, 37 and 38.
The Bill as passed by this House stipulated that the Principal Act was repealed to the extent specified in the First Schedule to the Bill. The date of effect of the repeal as the Bill then stood was the date of enactment of the Bill, but this required to be altered to the appointed day so as to continue the present arrangements until the new boards are established. There are, however, two specific provisions in the First Schedule which require to be brought into effect on the date of enactment of the Bill and amendment No. 8 regularises the position.
Amendments Nos. 9 and 17 provide for the preparation and submission of development programmes within two years of the setting up of the new boards and of subsequent programmes at least once in every five years. Originally preparation and submission of yearly programmes were envisaged but it was decided, in deference to views expressed in the Dáil, to provide for more flexible longer term planning. Budgets will be submitted annually.
The central board are enabled pursuant to amendment No. 10 to charge fees for promotional services. It was already empowered to charge fees for services covering the management, conservation, protection, development and improvement of fisheries.
Amendments Nos. 12 and 71 are textual amendments arising out of the necessity to refer specifically to Rosnalee Weir which is an adjunct to Mallow Hatchery.
Amendments Nos. 23 and 24 are technical amendments making it clear that the indictable provision contained in section 46 of the Bill is in addition to and not in substitution for the provision contained in section 309(1) of the Principal Act which provides for summary hearing of any fishery offence.
Under existing legislation it is necessary, when a foreign sea-fishing boat is being charged with an infringement of fishery legislation, to obtain certificates from each of the twelve registrars of ships around our coast to the effect that the vessel in question is not registered as an Irish sea-fishing boat. The procedure involved in complying with this requirement is tedious and the resultant delay often causes problems for the State. The purport of amendment No. 25 is to eliminate the need for the production of such certificates.
Amendment No. 26 includes "any other person" in the categories of people who may prosecute fishery offences in the District Court.
Section 50 of the Bill as passed by this House provided for the revision of certain penalties under the Principal Act and the Act of 1962. There was provision for the payment of a fine of £500 plus £50 for each salmon and £5 for each other fish involved, in respect of offences against certain sections. Amendments Nos. 28 and 29 increase the fine for each "other fish" from £5 to £10.
Section 51 as passed by this House contained provisions for disqualification for three years of a person from holding a commercial fishing licence on conviction of a third fishery offence of a prescribed character. Amendment No. 30 has the effect of disqualifying a person following conviction for a second offence of a prescribed character.
Amendment No. 31 provides for the payment of part of fines imposed by a court, as compensation in respect of loss or damage incurred in connection with interference with or trespass on an aquaculture installation.
The power of authorised officers to take a boat to port is now related to a boat believed to contain illegally caught fish as distinct from illegally caught salmon. Amendment No. 32 will strengthen the power of authorised officers in combating illegal fishing for all species of fish.
The reference to the use of firearms in exercising the power to take a boat to port has been removed by amendment No. 33. The section still empowers an authorised officer to use such force as is necessary.
Section 53 of the Bill as passed by this House contained several references to "an authorised person or persons". These should have read "an authorised officer or officers" as these are the descriptions used in the Principal Act. This is the purport of amendments Nos. 34, 35 and 36.
Amendments Nos. 39, 40, 42 and 45 enable the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry to grant a licence without fee to engage in aquaculture to persons who are at present lawfully so engaged. There is provision for appeal to the arbitrator concerning the refusal or grant of such a licence. These amendments were introduced in deference to representations made by persons holding oyster beds under old charters.
Section 54 of the Bill as passed by this House provided for a fine of £500 on summary conviction and £2,000 on conviction on indictment for trespass or interference with a fish farm. In deference to representation made by fish farmers amendments Nos. 43 and 44 were introduced in the Dáil, the effect of which is to provide for jail sentences as well as fines in both summary and indictable cases involving trespass or interference with fish farms.
The Bill as passed by this House did not empower the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry to demand from persons paying the first sales levy information other than weight of fish handled and price paid. The obligation to record additional information could be important, and amendment No. 48 provides for this.
Amendment No. 49 provides for the prohibition by order of the sale of certain kinds of fish or rod caught fish. This would enable the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry to implement proposals to ban the sale of rod caught salmon after the closing of the commercial fishing season or to introduce a complete ban on the sale of sea trout. Such proposals are under consideration at present.
Amendment No. 50 provides for the prohibition by order of the sale of certain types of net. This will help to stop at source dealings in monofilament nets, the use of which in salmon fishing is illegal.
Section 59 of the Bill as passed by this House entitled anyone who is registered in the Register of Trout, Coarse Fish and Sea Anglers to fish in any fisheries owned or occupied by the regional board by whom the register is maintained or in any central board fisheries.
Amendment No. 51 has the effect of empowering the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, the Commissioners of Public Works or the Land Commissioners to exclude from the provisions of section 59 any fisheries which will be transferred to the central board by either the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, the Office of Public Works or the Land Commission. Any fisheries acquired direct by the central board may also be excluded from these provisions.
Amendment No. 52 deletes subsection (4) of section 20 of the Principal Act from the repeals listed in the First Schedule to the Bill and substitutes instead a new subsection (4) which enables the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry to define the boundaries of the fishery districts at sea.
The Bill as passed by this House provided that a warrant issued under section 297 of the Principal Act allowed an authorised person to enter and search a particular garden, dwelling-house or curtilage. It was considered desirable that an extension of these powers was necessary so as to allow any structure or building in such a garden or curtilage to be entered and searched also. Amendment No. 54 provides for this.
Subsection (3) of section 19 of the 1962 Act specifies that a certificate under the hand of a registrar of ships in the State that a boat specified in the certificate is not registered as an Irish sea-fishing boat shall be conclusive evidence that the boat is not so registered. The Attorney General has stated that the word "conclusive" in this context could be held to be unconstitutional and he has advised that the word "sufficient" should be substituted. Amendment No. 56 provides accordingly.
The purpose of amendment No. 58 is to ensure that where any sections of the Principal Act, which are extended to the Moville Area, are amended in this Bill, the amendments will also extend to the Moville Area. The Moville Area is the portion of this country which forms part of Foyle Area, which Area is administered by the Foyle Fisheries Commission.
In regard to amendments Nos. 62 and 64, the number of members to be appointed to the central board by the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry is being increased from "four" to "not less than four or more than six". This is to enable the Minister to ensure that all interests are represented on that board.
Amendments Nos. 66 and 69 deal with representation at central board meetings. Regional boards are empowered to nominate a substitute to attend meetings of the central board in any case where the chairman of a regional board is incapable through ill-health of effectively performing his duties as a member of the central board. This will ensure that every regional board can at all times be represented at central board meetings.
Amendment No. 68 empowers the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry with the consent of the Minister for the Public Service to pay an allowance to the chairmen of the regional boards. The attention of my predecessor was drawn to the fact that the chairmen of the regional boards would have to devote a considerable amount of time to dealing with the affairs of their own boards and that in addition they would have to attend meetings of the central board. The point was made that they should therefore be paid an allowance and this is accepted.
The expressions "coarse fish" and "consequential disqualification order" had not hitherto been used in Fisheries legislation and they are not therefore defined in the Principal Act or in the Act of 1962. As these expressions are used in this Bill they must therefore be defined and amendment No. 72 provides accordingly.
The wording in the adaptation of the licensing provisions in the Principal Act to enable regional boards to issue licences was defective in some minor respects. Amendments Nos. 73, 74, 75, 84 and 85 remedy the position.
It is provided under amendment No. 76 that officers of the central board may be appointed as authorised persons under the Fisheries Acts. This will enable these officers to carry out protection duties if required.
The powers of staffs of regional boards who are authorised officers were limited to their own regions but amendment No. 78 provides for the exercise by such officers of their powers in any other fisheries region provided the regional board of that region so agrees. This will facilitate the drafting of protection staff into any additional region where the prevailing circumstances may require such action to be taken.
Amendments Nos. 79 and 86 provide that authorised persons may lie in wait for poachers on the banks of any lakes or rivers, frequented by any species of fish. This will aid protection officers in combating poaching.
Amendments Nos. 81, 82 and 83 include fyke nets for eels in the list of scheduled engines set out in the Fourth Schedule of the Principal Act and fixes the licence duty therefor. Until recently fyke nets were used primarily for experimental purposes but their use as a commercial fishing engine is becoming common and the number of applications in my Department for authorisations to use such nets for commercial purposes is on the increase. Consequently the time has come to designate this type of net as a commercial engine and thereby entitle the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry to fix the licence duty in the same way as in the case of other scheduled engines. At present the licence duty for fyke nets is fixed by the relevant Board of Conservators with the approval of the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry.
Section 301 (2) of the Principal Act sets out the powers of search, inspection and examination held by authorised officers in connection with their investigations in regard to fish suspected of having been illegally caught. The section is defective in that the authorised officer is not empowered to search the various business premises listed in the section. Amendments Nos. 80 and 88 remedy the defect.
Amendments Nos. 89, 90 and 91 provide that when the owner of a fishery proposed to be acquired by the central board cannot be found, the fishery may be acquired notwithstanding the fact that such owner has not been found or ascertained. It was considered desirable that such a provision should be included in the Bill.
A number of amendments of a purely technical nature were also introduced during the course of the passage of the Bill through the Dáil. I understand that this Bill was debated very constructively by the Members of this House and as a result was substantially improved before its introduction to the Dáil. The final form of the Bill as Senators see it today is I hope a true reflection of the wishes of the two Houses and, in fact, of all people interested in fisheries, and Senators are to be thanked for their contributions towards this end.