S.I. No. 425/2011 - Sea-fisheries (Control on fishing for razor clams in Cahore) Regulations 2011.

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 12th August, 2011.

I, SIMON COVENEY, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 3 and 15 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 (No. 8 of 2006) and the Sea-Fisheries, Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2007 ( S.I. No. 707 of 2007 ) (as adapted by the Agriculture and Food (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2007 ( S.I. No. 705 of 2007 )), hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Sea-fisheries (Control on fishing for razor clams in Cahore) Regulations 2011.

2. In these Regulations “fishing week” means seven consecutive days commencing on a Monday.

3. These Regulations apply to that part of the east coast of Ireland that lies within the following co-ordinates:

Position Latitude Longitude

1 52° 33.5’N 006° 11.5’W

2 52° 33.5’N 006° 06.0’W

3 52° 24.0’N 006° 09.0’W

4 52° 24.0’N 006° 21.5’W

4. (1) A person shall not fish for razor clams-

(a) outside of the hours of 07.00 to 19.00, and

(b) unless he or she has given 48 hours prior notice of his or her intention to fish and the days during which he or she intends to fish to a sea fisheries protection officer at Dunmore East by facsimile to 0035351383045 or by electronic mail to Dunmore@sfpa.ie.

(2) A person shall tranship, have onboard or commence landing razor clams no later than two hours after he or she has finished fishing.

(3) A person shall not land or tranship more than 3 tonnes of razor clams in any fishing week.

(4) A person shall not land or tranship razor clams unless he or she has notified a sea-fisheries protection officer of the time and place of landing or transhipment using a method of communication specified in paragraph (1)(b).

(5) A person shall not have in his or her possession or under his or her control, buy, handle, weigh, transport, process, store, document or sell razor clams caught, landed or transhipped in contravention of this Regulation.

5. (1) A person shall not have more than one dredge on board a sea-fishing boat.

(2) The dredge referred to in paragraph (1) must have a bar spacing of not less than 10 millimetres.

(3) A person shall not retain on board a sea-fishing boat, land or tranship razor clams with a shell length of less than 100 millimetres measured along the longest part of the shell, but shall immediately return such razor clams to the sea where they were taken.

(4) A person shall not have in his or her possession or under his or her control, buy, handle, weigh, transport, process, store, document or sell razor clams with a shell length of less than 100 millimetres measured along the longest part of the shell.

6. The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat used to fish for razor clams shall accurately maintain a BIM Fishing Activity Record Book in respect of each voyage and send the record relating to a fishing week to the address stated on the book within 48 hours of the end of that fishing week.

7. A person shall not contravene Regulations 4, 5, or 6.

GIVEN under my hand,

5 August 2011.

SIMON COVENEY,

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

The effect of these Regulations is to regulate the razor clam Fishery in Cahore and put in place controls on the fishery such as minimum size of razor clams to be fished and maximum weekly amount to be fished per vessel.