Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959

Division IV.

Annual close season for angling for salmon.

Annual close season for angling for salmon and penalties for angling for salmon therein.

137.—(1) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection, the annual close season for angling for salmon shall, for the purposes of this Act, be the period commencing on the 13th day of October in each year and ending on the 31st day of January in the next following year.

(b) Where—

(i) there is in relation to any locality a bye-law (whether applicable to angling for both salmon and trout or to angling for salmon only) in force, deemed to have been made under this Act, fixing a period during which it is declared by that bye-law to be unlawful to angle for salmon, and

(ii) such bye-law includes as part of the said period the October close period for angling,

then, for the purposes of this Act, the annual close season for angling for salmon in that locality shall, so long as that bye-law is in force, be the period fixed by that bye-law.

(c) Where—

(i) there is in relation to any locality a bye-law (whether applicable to angling for both salmon and trout or to angling for salmon only) in force, deemed to have been made under this Act, fixing a period during which it is declared by that bye-law to be unlawful to angle for salmon, and

(ii) such bye-law does not include as part of the said period the October close period for angling,

then, for the purposes of this Act, the annual close season for angling for salmon in that locality shall, so long as that bye-law remains in force, be—

(I) the October close period for angling, and

(II) the period fixed by that bye-law.

(d) The provisions set out in the Fifth Schedule to this Act shall apply in relation to bye-laws altering the annual close season for angling for salmon.

(2) (a) If, during the annual close season for angling for salmon, any person wilfully fishes for or takes salmon with rod and line or aids or assists in taking or fishing for salmon with rod and line, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine of not less than two pounds and not more than twenty-five pounds, together with a further fine of two pounds for every salmon so taken by him.

(b) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, every salmon taken by him and the rod and line used in the commission of the offence shall, as a statutory consequence of conviction, stand forfeited.