Article 3 Local Fisheries Committee

There shall continue to be a local fisheries committee constituted for the regulation of the sea fisheries carried on within the Southern Sea Fisheries District.

The Committee shall be a joint committee of the Councils referred to in column 1 of Schedule 1 to this order and shall consist of twenty members. The number of members appointed by each constituent Council shall be the number which is set out in column 2 of that Schedule opposite the reference to such Council. Eight additional members shall be appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and one additional member each by the Southern Water Authority and the Wessex Water Authority.

Subject to paragraph (5) of this article the persons who were members of the Committee immediately before the coming into force of this Order shall continue to hold office until the end of June 1989. After that date the members shall come into office on the day specified in the instrument appointing them and shall hold office until the end of the quadrennial period in which that day falls.

Retiring members shall be eligible for re-appointment.

Where for any reason whatsoever there occurs a casual vacancy in the Committee, the body by whom the vacating member was appointed may fill the vacancy by the appointment of a new member. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of the Committee forthwith to notify every such vacancy to the appointing body.

No act or proceeding of the Committee shall be questioned on account of any vacancy in the Committee, and no defect in the appointment of any person acting as a member of the Committee shall vitiate any proceedings of the Committee in which he has taken part.

No Council shall make, vary or revoke any regulation or standing order respecting the quorum or proceedings of the Committee or as to the area within which it is to exercise its authority, except that any Council may make a regulation requiring the Committee to submit to such Council once in each year an estimate of expenses proposed to be incurred by it under the Act, and once in each year an abstract of its accounts for the preceding year, and to afford to any person appointed for the purpose by the Council access at all reasonable times to the books containing its accounts.

Subject to any restriction or condition made under section 10 of the Act, the Committee shall not be required to report its proceedings to any Council, nor shall its acts or proceedings be submitted to any Council for approval.

The Committee shall hold four quarterly meetings in each year for the transaction of general business, in addition to any special or adjourned meetings.

Five members shall be a quorum at any meeting of the Committee.

The Committee may from time to time appoint a sub-committee or sub-committees and may assign to such sub-committee or sub-committees such duties as it may from time to time determine.