Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1978

Provisions in relation to cases in District Court.

15.—(1) Subsection (1) of section 309 of the Principal Act, in so far as it enables an offence to be heard and determined summarily, shall not apply in relation to an offence under a section of that Act specified in a Table to section 2 of this Act.

(2) The said section 309 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) (a) Where—

(i) a sea fisheries protection officer has in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 233 detained a boat and the persons on board it at a port in the State, and

(ii) a person (being one of the said persons) is alleged to have committed an offence under a provision of Chapter II or III of Part XIII,

the person may be brought before the appropriate District Justice and—

(I) if the offence is not an offence under a section specified in a Table to section 2 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1978, that Justice may hear and determine the case, and

(II) if the offence is an offence under a section specified in a Table to the said section 2, that Justice shall have jurisdiction to deal with the case under the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 , or under section 2 (2) of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1978, as may be appropriate.

(b) In this subsection ‘the appropriate District Justice’ means the District Justice for the time being assigned to the district court district in which is situated the port in which the boat and persons concerned are detained.

(c) Paragraph (a) shall not be construed as affecting section 79 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924 .”.