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Warrants to enter certain premises

23.  For section 59 of the 1952 Act (warrants) there shall be substituted—

“59.    Power of lay magistrate to grant warrant to enter certain premises

(1) If a lay magistrate is satisfied by complaint on oath that the first condition is satisfied and that the second or third condition is satisfied he may issue a warrant authorising an authorised person to enter any premises, if necessary using reasonable force, for any of the purposes mentioned in section 63(1).

(2) The complaint shall include—

(a) a statement as to whether any representations have been made by the occupier of the premises to an authorised person concerning the purpose for which the warrant is sought;

(b) a summary of any such representations.

(3) The first condition is that there are reasonable grounds for an authorised person to enter the premises for that purpose.

(4) The second condition is that each of the following applies to the occupier of the premises—

(a) he has been informed of the decision to seek entry to the premises and of the reasons for that decision;

(b) he has failed to allow entry to the premises on being requested to do so by an authorised person;

(c) he has been informed of the decision to apply for the warrant.

(5) The third condition is that—

(a) the premises are unoccupied or the occupier is absent and (in either case) notice of intention to apply for the warrant has been left in a conspicuous place on the premise, or

(b) an application for admission to the premises or the giving of notice of intention to apply for the warrant would defeat the object of entering the premises.

(6) A warrant issued under this section shall not continue in force for more than 7 days from the date of its issue by the lay magistrate, which date shall be clearly visible on the warrant.

(7) A warrant issued under this section shall be executed only at a reasonable hour unless otherwise authorised by the warrant.

(8) A person authorised to enter premises by virtue of a warrant issued under this section—

(a) may take with him such other persons and such equipment as he considers may be necessary; and

(b) shall, on leaving any unoccupied premises which he has entered by virtue of such a warrant, leave them as effectually secured against trespassers as he found them.

(9) In this section “authorised person” does not include a private river watcher.”.

Apprehension of offenders

24.—(1) In section 61 of the 1952 Act (apprehension of offenders), in subsection (1)(b), after “name and address” there shall be inserted “to the satisfaction of the authorised person”.

(2) For subsection (2) of that section there shall be substituted—

“(2) If any person fails to give his name and address to the satisfaction of an authorised person when required to do so in accordance with subsection (1)(b), he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.”.

(3) Subsection (3) of that section shall cease to have effect.

Powers of inspection, examination and detention

25.  In section 63 of the 1952 Act (powers of inspection, examination and detention)—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) in paragraph (g) after “take the name and address” there shall be inserted “and date of birth”;

(ii) after paragraph (g), there shall be added—

“(h) to demand and take the name, address and date of birth of any person who is fishing or whom he reasonably suspects to be about to fish or to have fished within the preceding half hour.”;

(b) in subsection (5) after “his own name and address” there shall be inserted “and date of birth to the satisfaction of the authorised officer”;

(c) after subsection (5) there shall be inserted—

“(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising an authorised officer to enter—

(a) any enclosed garden; or

(b) any dwelling-house or the curtilage thereof.”.

Penalties for offences

26.—(1) In section 41 of the 1952 Act (penalty for pollution), subsection (1A) shall cease to have effect.

(2) In section 68 of the 1952 Act (penalties for offences)—

(a) in subsection (1), the words from “and, in the case of a continuing offence” to the end of that subsection shall cease to have effect;

(b) subsection (2) shall cease to have effect.

Exemption for acts done for improvement of fisheries, etc.

27.  For section 69 of the 1952 Act (saving for acts done for improvement of the fisheries) there shall be substituted—

“69.    Saving for acts done for artificial propagation, scientific purposes or improvement of the fisheries

(1) Nothing in this Act shall prohibit anything done for the purpose of the artificial propagation of fish, for some scientific purpose or for the improvement of any fishery—

(a) by the Commission;

(b) by a person to whom a permit is issued under this section (or any other person acting under his directions), under the authority of, and subject to the conditions of, that permit.

(2) The Commission may, by permit in writing and subject to any specified conditions, authorise any named person to do, at any season of the year, any specified things for any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) and in particular, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing—

(a) to catch fish of any specified kind and to have in his possession fish of that kind or their ova for the purpose of artificial propagation, transplantation, the stocking, restocking or improvement of any fishery or for any scientific purpose, and for the purpose of so catching to have in his possession, erect and use any fishing engine of a specified kind or to have in his possession and use any substance of a specified kind;

(b) to buy or sell ova or fry of fish of any specified kind for the purpose of stocking or restocking, or for any scientific purpose;

(c) to dispose of fish taken in accordance with the terms of the permit in such manner and on such terms as may be specified.

(3) A permit under this section shall not authorise anything to be done in relation to a several fishery otherwise than with the consent of the owner of that fishery.

(4) A person to whom a permit has been given by the Commission shall, if when doing anything pursuant to the permit he is so requested by an authorised person, produce the permit to that person.

(5) In this section “specified” means specified in a permit.”.

Forfeiture of boats, fishing engines, etc.

28.—(1) In section 75 of the 1952 Act (forfeiture), for the words from “any fish” to the end of that section there shall be substituted

• “the court by which he is convicted may make such other order as to the forfeiture of—

  (a)

  any fish illegally taken by him or in his possession at the time of the offence;

  (b)

  any boat, fishing engine, equipment or any other thing by means or in respect of which the offence is committed,

  as the court thinks fit.”.

(2) Section 76 of the 1952 Act (recording of forfeiture) shall cease to have effect.

Enforcement of private fishing rights

29.  Paragraph 2 of the Third Schedule to the 1952 Act (powers of the Commission) shall be renumbered as sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph and—

(a) at the end of that sub-paragraph there shall be added—

“(e) enter into an agreement to enforce the fishing rights of any owner or occupier of land or waters in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be specified in the agreement and on payment of such sums as may be so specified.”; and

(b) after that sub-paragraph there shall be added—

“(2) Section 168(1) of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 shall not apply in any case where the fishing rights in question are rights of an owner or occupier of land or waters with whom the Commission has entered into an agreement under sub-paragraph (1)(e).”.

Powers to manage the Londonderry fishery

30.—(1) In the Third Schedule to the 1952 Act in paragraph 3(1) for “during the transitional period” there shall be substituted “during the period mentioned in sub-paragraph (2)”.

(2) In that Schedule for sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 3 there shall be substituted—

“(2) The period referred to in sub-paragraph (1) is the period beginning on the establishment date and ending on such date as the Department and the Minister may jointly direct.”.

Calculation of time periods

31.  After section 81 of the 1952 Act, there shall be inserted—

“Calculation of time periods

82.—(1) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where a period of time is expressed to begin on, or be reckoned from, a particular day, that day shall not be included in the period.

(2) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where a period of time is expressed to end on, or to be reckoned to, a particular day, that day shall be included in the period.

(3) In this Act, or any regulations made under this Act, where the time limited for the doing of anything expires on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday, the time so limited shall extend to and the thing may be done on the first following day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday.

(4) Where any document or notice is received by the Commission or the Appeals Board outside the business hours of the Commission, or as the case may be, the Appeals Board, the document or notice shall be deemed to have been received on the first following day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

(5) In subsections (3) and (4)—

(a) “business hours” means such hours as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section;

(b) “public holiday” means any day which is prescribed for the purposes of this section.

(6) Subsections (2), (3), (4) and (8) of section 39 of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall not apply to this Act.”.