Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota and Third Country Fishing Measures) (Scotland) Order 2000 (S.S.I. No. 34 of 2000).

This Order makes provision for the enforcement of certain enforceable Community restrictions and other obligations relating to sea fishing by Community vessels and third country vessels set out in Council Regulation (EC) No. 2742/1999. The Council Regulation fixes total allowable catches and the quotas of member States for 2000 and lays down certain conditions under which they may be fished It also authorizes fishing by vessels of Norway and the Faroe Islands for specified descriptions of fish in certain specified areas within the fishery limits of Member States in 2000 and imposes requirements concerning fishing quotas and authorized zones, methods of fishing, the holding of licences and observance of licence conditions, the keeping of logbooks, the making of reports and similar matters. The Order makes provision for the purposes of Article 8 of and Schedule IV, paragraph 2 to the Council Regulation (prohibition of landing of catches of unsorted herring at harbours where adequate sampling systems are not in place) as to the harbours in Scotland at which such catches may be landed (art. 3). The Order creates offences in respect of breaches of the provisions of the Council Regulation referred to in column 1 of Schedules 1 and 2 to the Order (art. 4). The Order makes provision in relation to the recovery of fines imposed in respect of such offences or an offence under article 11 (art. 6). The Order confers on British sea-fishery officers powers of enforcement in relation to fishing boats and on land. These include power to enter premises, to go on board fishing boats, to stop and search vehicles transporting fish, to examine fish, to require the production of documents, to search for and seize documents, to take a boat to the nearest convenient port and to seize fish and fishing gear (arts. 7, 8 and 9).