{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sea-fish-licensing-order-1989/article-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sea-fish-licensing-order-1989/article-3.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1989/2015",
  "legislation_title": "The Sea Fish Licensing Order 1989",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/sea-fish-licensing-order-1989",
  "path": "article/3",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Prohibition of fishing without a licence and exceptions thereto",
  "text": "(1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this article, fishing by British fishing boats in an area of sea specified in column 1 of Schedule 2 to this Order for a description of sea fish specified in relation to that area in column 2 of that Schedule is hereby prohibited unless authorised by a licence granted, in the case of fishing by British fishing boats registered in the Isle of Man for herring (Clupea harengus) in ICES VIIa (Irish Sea), by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Isle of Man and, in any other case, by one of the Ministers.\n(2) The prohibition in paragraph (1) above shall not apply to fishing–\n(a) by handline for mackerel (Scomber scombrus);\n(b) by any boat whose length is not more than 10 metres, except in the case of a boat fishing for herring–\n(i) in ICES VIIa (Irish Sea);\n(ii) in ICES VIIg (South-east of Ireland);\n(iii) in ICES VIIh (Little Sole Bank);\n(iv) in ICES VIIj (Great Sole Bank);\n(v) in ICES VIIk (West of Great Sole Bank);\n(vi) in the Thames and Blackwater coastal area, that is to say the area of sea adjacent to England which lies between a line drawn due east from Langduard Point, Felixstowe and a line drawn due east from North Foreland lighthouse and within 6 miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured; or\n(vii) in the Firth of Clyde, that is to say the area of sea which lies landward of a line drawn from a point on the mainland of Scotland at 55°17'.9 north latitude and 5°47'.8 west longitude (Mull of Kintyre) to a point on the mainland of Scotland at 55°00'.5 north latitude and 5°09'.4 west longitude (Corsewall Point).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "See the Territorial Waters Order in Council 1964 (1965 III, p. 6452A, amended by 1979 II, p. 2866)."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "amended",
      "affecting": "uksi/1990/1014",
      "affecting_title": "The Sea Fish Licensing (Variation) (No. 2) Order 1990"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/2015/article/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T15:35:23.942797+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}