PART VIII.

Fixed Engines, Fishing Weirs, Fishing Mill Dams and Other Obstructions to the Passage of Fish.

Chapter I.

Prohibition of Fixed Engines, Fishing Weirs and Fishing Mill Dams with Certain Exceptions.

97. —(1) No person shall fish with, make use of, or erect any fixed engine for the capture of salmon unless a certificate in regard to such fixed engine was granted under the Salmon Fishery (Ireland) Act, 1863, before the 31st day of December, 1923, and was subsisting unrevoked on that day.

(2) Every person who fishes with, makes use of, or erects any fixed engine for the capture of salmon in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and a further fine not exceeding twenty pounds for every day during which such fixed engine is fished with, made use of, or erected.

(3) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the fixed engine in respect of which the offence was committed shall, as a statutory consequence of conviction, stand forfeited.

98. —A certificate under section 6 of the Salmon Fishery (Ireland) Act, 1863, shall be conclusive evidence that the person named therein is the person entitled to exercise the right therein given, but it shall not render any fixed engine lawful which would otherwise be unlawful by reason of its being injurious to navigation, a common nuisance to the public right of fishing or otherwise in violation of the common law or any enactment.

99. —(1) It shall not be lawful for any person to erect in the freshwater portion of any river or lake any fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine.

(2) If any person erects a fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine in contravention of this section such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(3) Where any fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine is erected in contravention of this section the Minister may cause such fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine to be demolished, and any expenses incurred by the Minister under this subsection shall be a debt due to the Minister by the occupier of such fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine and may be recovered as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(4) The provisions of this section shall not apply to long lines used solely for the capture of eels or to engines used for the capture of fish other than salmon, trout or eels.

(5) The Minister may, if he thinks fit, by order authorise a named person to erect, in accordance with plans approved by the Minister, at a specified place in the freshwater portion of a specified river or lake, a specified kind of fishing engine (being a fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine) for the capture of eels.

(6) Nothing in this section shall apply to—

(a) the erection by the Electricity Supply Board of—

(i) a fishing weir for the capture of eels, or

(ii) a fishing weir in exercise of the powers conferred on the said Board by section 101, or

(b) the erection, by a person authorised by an order made under subsection (5) of this section to erect a specified kind of fishing engine (being a fishing weir, a fishing mill dam or fixed engine) for the capture of eels, of that kind of fishing engine under and in accordance with such order.

100. —(1) It shall not be lawful for any person to use in the freshwater portion of any river or in any lake any fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine for the capture of fish unless such fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine was in existence and was lawfully used during the open fishing season of one or more of the three years 1936, 1937 and 1938.

(2) Where one or more boxes in a fishing weir or fishing mill dam was lawfully used during the open fishing season of one or more of the three years 1936, 1937 and 1938, such fishing weir or fishing mill dam shall, for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, be deemed to have been lawfully used during such open fishing season.

(3) If any person uses any fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine in contravention of this section, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and in the case of a continuing offence a further fine not exceeding fifty pounds for every day during which such offence continues after conviction thereof.

(4) The provisions of this section shall not apply to long lines used solely for the capture of eels or to engines used for the capture of fish other than salmon, trout or eels.

(5) (a) The Minister may, if he thinks fit, grant to the occupier of a fishing engine (being a fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine) for the capture of eels, an authorisation (in this section referred to as an eel fishery authorisation) to use such fishing engine for the capture of eels.

(b) The Minister may attach to an eel fishery authorisation such conditions (including a condition limiting the period during which the authorisation is to remain in force) as he thinks fit.

(c) The Minister, if he so thinks fit, may amend an eel fishery authorisation within ten years from the date on which the authorisation was granted.

(d) The Minister may revoke an eel fishery authorisation—

(i) if the holder thereof is convicted of an offence under the repealed enactments or an offence under any provision of this Act, or

(ii) if he is satisfied that there has been a breach of any condition attached to the authorisation.

(6) The following provisions shall apply in relation to the amendment or revocation of an eel fishery authorisation under this section—

(a) the Minister shall not amend or revoke the authorisation unless and until he has given by post to the holder thereof at least one fortnight's notice in writing stating that the Minister has under consideration, as the case may be, the amendment or revocation of the authorisation,

(b) the notice shall also state—

(i) in case it states that the Minister has under consideration the amendment of the authorisation—the specific amendment under consideration and the grounds on which it is so under consideration, or

(ii) in case it states that the Minister has under consideration the revocation of the authorisation—the grounds on which such revocation is so under consideration,

(c) the Minister shall consider any representations in relation to such amendment or revocation, as the case may be, made to him by the holder of the authorisation before the expiration of the notice.

(7) Nothing in this section shall apply to—

(a) the use by the Electricity Supply Board of—

(i) a fishing weir for the capture of eels erected by the said Board, or

(ii) a fishing weir erected by the said Board in exercise of the powers conferred on the said Board by section 101, or

(b) the use of a fishing engine (being a fishing weir, fishing mill dam or fixed engine) in respect of which there is for the time being in force an eel fishery authorisation, so long as it is used in accordance with such authorisation.

101. —(1) Whenever the Electricity Supply Board acquires under Part III of the Electricity (Supply) (Amendment) Act, 1945 (No. 12 of 1945) every fishery (if any) and every fishing right (if any) in a river, the said Board may, with the consent of the Minister and notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, construct in such river a fishing weir for the purposes of all or any of the fisheries (if any) and fishing rights (if any) so acquired, and may thereafter maintain the fishing weir so constructed.

(2) Whenever the Electricity Supply Board acquires under or by virtue of the Electricity Supply (Amendment) Act, 1945, a fishing weir, the said Board may, with the consent of the Minister and notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, do either of the following things:—

(a) maintain such fishing weir and, for the purpose of such maintenance, reconstruct or repair such fishing weir, or

(b) construct on the site of such fishing weir or on a different site a new fishing weir in lieu of the fishing weir so acquired and thereafter maintain such new fishing weir.