Marine Fisheries Law (State Law and Order Restoration Council Law No. 9/90).

This is a rather comprehensive new act on marine fisheries which replaces all other legal instruments inconsistent with it. It is divided into 13 chapters. Chapter 1, Title and Definitions, is mainly devoted to the definition of the scope and the extent of the Act. Chapter 2, Applications for Licence, distinguishes between licence for inshore fishery, for offshore fishery, for collecting marine products for sale, for commercial fishing, for sport fishing and for fishing under the Myanmar Foreign Investment Law or under joint venture. Chapter 3 deals with payment of duties and fines and chapter 4 with registration of fishing vessels carrying out offshore fishing and of fishermen. Fishing grounds shall be determined along with the rules set down in chapter 5, Determination of Fishing Ground, which states that preferences shall be given to citizens in the fishing grounds located between the baselines and the coast, as declared in the territorial sea and Maritime Zones Law. Beyond the baselines, fishing rights shall be granted and fishing grounds determined for foreign fishing. Chapter 6 focuses on the duties and rights of the licence holder. Chapter 7 regulates the powers of the Fisheries Department and the Director-General. Control and surveillance are undertaken by inspectors, whose powers and duties are defined in chapter 8. Chapter 9 sets out the duties of the Master of the fishing vessel.
Appeals against decisions of the head of the Fishery Department relating to inshore or offshore fishery, general prohibition, offences and penalties are respectively covered in chapters 10, 11 and 12. The last chapter, chapter 13, Miscellaneous, deals with regulatory powers of the Minister, the budget for research activities, the relationship between administratively punished actions and criminal actions which might also arise and be punished along with the Criminal Code.