Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order prohibits, subject to exceptions, fishing for mackerel ( Scomber scombrus) during the period beginning with the date of coming into force of the Order and ending immediately before 1st January 1993—
by any British fishing boat registered in the United Kingdom within any part of a sea area specified in the Schedule to the Order, or
by any British fishing boat registered in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands or by any British-owned fishing boat within any part of such a sea area which lies within British fishery limits (article 2).
The Order does not apply to any boat over 10 metres in length or any boat which is used wholly for fishing with rod and line or by handline (article 2(2)(a) and (b)). “Length” is defined in article 1(2). The Order also does not apply to fishing within that part of the sea area ICES Statistical Division Vb which lies outside British fishery limits or that part of the sea area ICES Statistical Sub-area II which lies within British fishery limits (article 2(2)(c) and (d)).
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, mackerel 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 certain enforcement powers for the purpose of the enforcement of the Order (article 3).