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14 1959

FISHERIES (CONSOLIDATION) ACT, 1959

Chapter III.

Oyster Fishery Orders.

Power of Minister to make oyster fishery orders.

256. —Subject to section 11 and to the provisions of this Chapter the Minister may make orders for the establishment or improvement and for the maintenance and regulation of an oyster fishery on the shore and bed of the sea or of an estuary or tidal river above or below or partly above and partly below low-water mark (which said shore and bed are in this Chapter referred to as the seashore), and including, if desirable, provisions for the constitution of a board or body corporate for the purpose of such order, on an application to the Minister by any person desirous of obtaining such an order.

Publication of notices of application.

257. —If, on consideration of an application for an oyster fishery (1959 Act) order, the Minister thinks fit to proceed with the case the Minister shall cause notices to that effect to be published and circulated in the district to be affected by the order and shall give notice of the application in such manner as he thinks proper for giving information to all parties interested and to the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees and occupiers or reputed occupiers, so far as they may be known or ascertained, of the portion of the seashore to which the proposed order relates or of the lands adjoining thereto.

Objections and representations respecting proposed oyster fishery (1959 Act) order.

258. —During one month after the publication of the notices mentioned in section 257, the Minister shall receive any objections or representations made to him in writing respecting the proposed oyster fishery (1959 Act) order to which the said notices relate.

Inquiry into proposed oyster fishery (1959 Act) order.

259. —After the expiration of one month after the publication of the notices mentioned in section 257, in relation to an application for an oyster fishery (1959 Act) order, the Minister shall appoint an officer of the Minister to hold an inquiry (of which due notice shall be given) into the subject matter of the proposed order and for that purpose to hold a sitting or sittings in the neighbourhood of the portion of the seashore to which the proposed order relates and thereat to take and receive any evidence and information offered and inquire into any objections or representations made respecting the proposed order, with power from time to time to adjourn any sitting.

Making of oyster fishery (1959 Act) order.

260. —As soon as conveniently may be after the holding of an inquiry into an application for an oyster fishery (1959 Act) order, the Minister shall proceed to consider the objections or representations that have been made respecting the proposed order and thereupon shall either refuse the application or make an order in such form and containing such provisions as he thinks expedient.

Amendment of oyster fishery order.

261. —The Minister may from time to time by order amend an oyster fishery order, and all the provisions relative to an original oyster fishery order shall apply also to an amending order with the necessary modifications.

Effect of oyster fishery (1959 Act) order.

262. —When an oyster fishery (1959 Act) order has been made, the grantee shall, by virtue of the order, have, within the limits of the oyster fishery named therein, the exclusive right of depositing, propagating, dredging and fishing for and taking oysters, and in exercise of that right, may, within the limits of the fishery, make and maintain oyster beds, and at any season collect oysters and remove them from place to place and deposit them as and where he thinks fit, and do all other things which he thinks proper for obtaining, storing and disposing of the produce of the fishery or for the regulation of the fishery.

Powers of grantees under oyster fishery order to make regulations for management of oyster fishery.

263. —For the purpose of protecting an oyster fishery granted under an oyster fishery order, the grantee or grantees, under the hands of any two of them, where more than two, may, subject to the approval of the Minister make such regulations for the management of such fishery as they consider necessary.

Appointment of keepers by grantees under oyster fishery orders.

264. —For the purpose of protecting an oyster fishery granted under an oyster fishery order, the grantee or grantees, under the hands of any two of them, where more than two, may, subject to the approval of the Minister, appoint at the cost and expense of the grantees, any keeper they consider necessary for the protection of the fishery, and any keeper so appointed may enforce any regulations made under section 263 in respect of such oyster fishery and shall have all the powers conferred on water keepers by this Act.

Penalty for trespass on or breach of regulations of oyster fishery.

265. —(1) If, in respect of any oyster fishery granted under an oyster fishery order, any person—

(a) wilfully trespasses on such fishery, or

(b) not being a grantee or not having the written permission of the grantee or grantees, or, where more than two, of at least two-thirds of the grantees, dredges, fishes for or takes any oysters, or

(c) being a grantee or duly authorised person as aforesaid, dredges, fishes for or takes any oysters in contravention of any regulation made under section 263 in relation to such fishery,

such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(2) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section—

(a) if the oysters in respect of which the offence wag committed have not been sold, those oysters shall, as a statutory consequence of conviction, stand forfeited, and the Court may direct their delivery to the grantees of the fishery from which they were taken,

(b) if those oysters have been sold, the Court may order such person to pay to the said grantees a sum equal to the value thereof.

Determination of oyster fishery orders.

266. —(1) If it appears to the Minister that the grantee in any oyster fishery order is not maintaining the oyster fishery granted therein, the Minister, if he so thinks fit, may by order determine such oyster fishery order and thereupon all the rights and privileges thereunder shall be absolutely determined and shall be null and void.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section the Minister may from time to time make such inquiries and examination and require from the grantee such information as the Minister thinks necessary or proper, and the grantee shall afford all facilities for such inquiries and examination and give such information accordingly.

Oyster fishery order not to abridge right of several fishery.

267. —Subject to section 270 no oyster fishery order shall take away or abridge any right of several fishery or any right on, to or over any portion of the seashore, which right is enjoyed by any person under any local or special Act, or any charter, letters patent, prescription or immemorial usage, without the consent of such person.

Copies of oyster fishery orders to be kept.

268. —The grantee under an oyster fishery order shall at all times keep, at some convenient place in the neighbourhood of that portion of the sea shore to which the order relates, copies of the order and shall sell such copies to all persons desiring to buy them at a price not exceeding one shilling for each copy.

Saving for rights of the State.

269. —Where any portion of the seashore proposed to be comprised in an oyster fishery (1959 Act) order belongs to the State, the Minister shall not make the order without the consent of the Minister for Industry and Commerce.

Adaptation of section 9 of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1938.

270. —In section 9 of the Shannon Fisheries Act, 1938 (No. 7 of 1938)—

(a) the references, in subsections (2) and (4), to the Oyster Cultivation (Ireland) Act, 1884, shall be construed as including references to this Chapter,

(b) the references, in subsection (3), to section 17 of the Oyster Cultivation (Ireland) Act, 1884, shall be construed as including references to section 267 of this Act.