Fisheries Act, 1980

Power of authorised officer to take boat to port, etc.

53.Section 301 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the insertion in subsection (2) of the following paragraphs after paragraph (d):

“(da) if the boat contains or he believes or suspects that it contains fish unlawfully captured he may without summons, warrant or other process take the boat and all persons thereon to the nearest or most convenient port or other place, and if he decides to take the steps mentioned in subsection (2A) of this section, he may, pending the taking of those steps, detain the boat and the persons;

(db) he may for the purpose of exercising the power conferred on him by paragraph (da) of this subsection use such force as he may consider necessary;”,

(b) the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(2A) Where an authorised officer has in exercise of the powers conferred on him by this section taken any boat and the persons thereon to a port or other place, he shall, as soon as may be, bring the person who at the time the boat was so taken was, or who appeared to him to be, in charge of the boat, and any other person who was then thereon, and against whom, in either case, proceedings for an offence under section 65 , 69 , 73 , 97 , 127 , 132 , 140 or 182 of the Principal Act or section 29 of the Act of 1962 or for a contravention of a bye-law described in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of section 46 (4) of the Fisheries Act, 1980, are or are about to be instituted before a District Justice or, where no District Justice is immediately available, a Peace Commissioner, and thereupon the District Justice or Peace Commissioner (as the case may be) shall, if he is satisfied that the proceedings are or are about to be instituted against the person, by order directed to an authorised officer or officers require the authorised officer or officers to detain at a specified port or other place in the State either, as may be specified in the order, such boat and the person or persons brought before him or such boat only until the proceedings have been adjudicated upon by a District Justice, and the boat or the boat and such person or persons, as may be appropriate, shall be detained accordingly.”,

(c) the insertion of “, whether such loss or damage occurs by reason of something done personally by such officer or by a person acting under his orders,” before “unless” in subsection (6), and the said subsection (6), as so amended, is set out in the Table to this section.

TABLE

(6) No authorised officer shall be liable for any loss or damage occasioned by or in the course of the exercise of any of the powers conferred on him by this section, whether such loss or damage occurs by reason of something done personally by such officer or by a person acting under his orders, unless such loss or damage was caused by him wantonly or maliciously.