Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order prohibits, with an exception, fishing for cod (Gadus morhua) during the period beginning with the date of coming into force of the Order and ending immediately before 1st January 1991–
by any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man within any part of a sea area described in the Schedule to the Order, or
by any British fishing boat registered in any of the Channel Islands or by any British-owned fishing boat within any part of such a sea area which lies inside British fishery limits (article 2).
By virtue of section 5(6) of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 (as amended by section 22(2) of the Fisheries Act 1981), where, in the course of any fishing operations conducted in any of the above-mentioned sea areas, cod are taken on board a boat to which this Order applies, those fish shall (subject to section 9 of that Act) be returned to the sea forthwith.
British sea-fishery officers are given enforcement powers in relation to boats to which the Order applies (article 3).