No. 6/1924:

FISHERIES ACT, 1924

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1 Definitions.

2 Penalties for taking, selling, etc., salmon or trout during annual close season.

3 Penalties for taking, buying, etc., unseasonable salmon or trout.

4 Penalties for obstructing or disturbing salmon or trout during annual close season.

5 Penalties for attempting to spear, etc., fish at night.

6 Penalties for using explosives to catch fish.

7 Penalties for having possession of explosives with intent to destroy fish thereby.

8 Penalties for taking fish illegally killed or found dead.

9 Penalties to be substitutional, and existing powers to apply

10 Saving for persons engaged in artificial propagation or other scientific work

11 Short title and construction

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO FISHERIES BY PRESCRIBING NEW PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN OFFENCES IN RELATION TO SALMON, TROUT, AND OTHER FISHERIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES RELATING TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE FISHERIES OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN.

[21st March, 1924.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1.—In this Act—

the word "salmon" includes grilse, peal, sea-trout, samlets, parr and all other fish of the salmon kind, and the spawn and fry thereof;

the word "trout" includes pollen or fresh-water herring, and all fish of the trout kind and the spawn and fry thereof;

the expression "annual close season" means and includes any period of time or season of the year within which it is or shall be lawfully prohibited to fish for, take, or destroy any fish of the kind, in reference to which the expression is used, in the river, lake, estuary, or part of the sea to which the expression is applied; and

all other words and expressions used in this Act which are also used in the Fisheries (Ireland) Acts, 1842 to 1909, shall respectively have the same meanings in this Act as they have in those Acts.

2.—(1) Every person who shall wilfully take or fish for, or aid or assist in taking or fishing for, any salmon or trout from or in any river, lake, or estuary, or from or in any part of the sea during the annual close season for salmon or trout respectively in that river, lake, estuary, or that part of the sea, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than two pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, together with a further fine of two pounds for every salmon or trout so taken or caught by him, and shall also forfeit every such salmon or trout and the net, engine, or instrument by which the same was so taken or caught.

(2) Every person who shall buy, sell or expose for sale, or have in his custody or possession any salmon or trout or any part of any salmon or trout taken from or caught in any river, lake or estuary, or any part of the sea during the annual close season for salmon or trout respectively in that river, lake, or estuary, or that part of the sea, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than two pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, together with a further fine of two pounds for every such salmon or trout or part of a salmon or trout so bought, sold, or exposed for sale by him or so in his custody and possession and shall also forfeit every such salmon or trout or part of a salmon or trout.

(3) In any proceedings under the next foregoing sub-section, proof that a person bought, sold or exposed for sale or had in his custody or possession any salmon or trout or any part of any salmon or trout during the annual close season for salmon or trout respectively in any river, lake, or estuary in Saorstát Eireann or in any part of the sea adjacent to the coast of Saorstát Eireann shall be prima facie evidence that such salmon or trout was taken or caught during the annual close season for salmon or trout (as the case may require) in the river, lake, estuary, or part of the sea from or in which the same may have been taken or caught.

3.—Every person who shall at any time wilfully take, kill, destroy, buy, sell, expose for sale or have in his custody or possession any black, foul, unclean, or unseasonable salmon or trout or any part of any such salmon or trout, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable either by a fine of not less than two pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, together with a further fine of two pounds for every such salmon or trout or part of a salmon or trout, or at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than one month nor more than twelve months, and shall also in either case forfeit every such salmon or trout or part of a salmon or trout: Provided always that any person who shall take or catch any such salmon or trout accidentally and shall return the same immediately to the water without injury shall not be guilty of the offence aforesaid.

4.—Every person who shall, during the annual close season for salmon or trout respectively in any river or lake, in any way or by any device wilfully obstruct the passage of salmon or trout, or the smolts or fry thereof in or through that river or lake, or injure or disturb any salmon or trout, or any spawn, smolts, or fry thereof in that river or lake, or injure or disturb any spawning bed, bank or shallow in that river or lake where such spawn, smolts, or fry may be, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than two pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than one month nor more than twelve months.

5.—Every person who shall, between sunset and sunrise, have or use any light or fire of any kind, or any spear, gaff, strokehaul, or other such instrument with intent to take salmon, trout or other fish in or on the banks of any lake, river or estuary, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than two pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than one month nor more than twelve months, and shall also forfeit every such light, fire, spear, gaff, strokehaul, or other instrument aforesaid.

6.—Every person who shall use dynamite or any other explosive substance to catch or destroy fish in any river, lake or estuary, whether the same be a public or a private fishery, or in any part of the sea, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than ten pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than six months nor more than twelve months.

7.—Every person who shall be found on the bank of or near any river, lake, or estuary or any part of the sea coast with any dynamite or other explosive substance in his possession in such circumstances as shall satisfy the court before whom he may be tried that such person had employed or was about to employ such dynamite or other explosive substance for the capture or destruction of fish, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than ten pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than six months nor more than twelve months, and shall also forfeit all such dynamite, or other explosive substance so in his possession.

8.—(1) Every person (not being a person to whom this section does not apply) who shall by any means remove or cause to be removed from any fresh-water lake or river—

( a ) any salmon or trout or the fry thereof which shall not have been killed by lawful means, or

( b ) any salmon or trout or the fry thereof which shall have been found dead from any cause whatever by such person,

shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall on summary conviction thereof be punishable by a fine of not less than ten pounds nor more than twenty-five pounds, or, at the discretion of the court, by imprisonment with or without hard labour for any period not less than six months nor more than twelve months.

(2) This section shall not apply to—

( a ) any person acting under the authority of the Minister for Fisheries, or

( b ) any officer of a Board of Conservators acting under the instructions of that Board, or

( c ) any owner of a fishery or his agent acting under the written authority of a Board of Conservators, or

(d ) so far as respects the removal or causing to be removed of any diseased salmon or trout or the fry thereof, or any salmon or trout or the fry thereof found dead from any cause, any member of the Gárda Síochána or any Sanitary Officer.

9.—(1) Every penalty or punishment imposed by this Act shall be in substitution for any penalty or punishment imposed by the Fisheries (Ireland) Acts, 1842 to 1909, for the same or a like offence.

(2) For the purposes of enforcing the provisions of this Act, all men of the Gárda Síochána and all other persons appointed to carry out and enforce the provisions of the Fisheries (Ireland) Acts, 1842 to 1909, shall in relation to the several offences for which punishments are prescribed by this Act have the like powers as they now have under the Acts aforesaid in relation to the same or like offences for which punishments are prescribed by those Acts.

10.—Nothing in this Act shall apply to any person who shall, with the permission of the Minister for Fisheries, catch or attempt to catch or have in his custody or possession any salmon or trout, or the fry, smolts, or spawn thereof (whether living, dead, or diseased) for the purposes of artificial propagation or other scientific purposes.

11.—This Act may be cited as the Fisheries Act, 1924 , and may be cited and shall be construed as one with the Fisheries (Ireland) Acts, 1842 to 1909.