harbors of this Island, or if the master of the said vessel shall have engaged or attempted to engage any person to form part of the crew of the said vessel in any port, or on any part of the coasts of this Island, without a license therefor in writing first granted to any such vessel under the provisions of this Act, or has entered such waters for any purpose not permitted by treaty, convention or act of the Legislature, for the time being in force, such vessel and the tackle, rigging, apparel, furniture, stores and cargo thereof shall be forfeited. 4.-All goods and vessels and the tackle, rigging, apparel, furniture, stores and cargo thereof, liable to forfeiture under this Act, may be seized and secured by any officer or person mentioned in the second section of this Act, and every person opposing any officer or person in the execution of his duty under this Act, or aiding or abetting any other person in such opposition, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to a fine of five hundred dollars. 5. In any prosecution under this Act, the presence on board of any foreign fishing vessel, in any port of this Island, or within British waters aforesaid, of any caplin, squid, or other bait fishes, of ice, lines, seines or other outfits or supplies for the fishery, shall be prima facie evidence of the purchase of the said bait fishes and outfits within such port or waters, and the refusal or failure to produce a license upon being called upon so to do, shall be prima facie evidence of the purchase of bait, ice, lines, seines or other supplies or outfits for the fishery without a license. 6. All offenders against the provisions of this Act may be prosecuted and convicted, and all fines, forfeitures, penalties and other punishments imposed, recovered, and made, in a summary manner, before a Stipendary Magistrate. For the purposes of this Act all Stipendiary Magistrates shall be deemed to be Stipendiary Magistrates for the Colony, and may exercise the jurisdiction given by this Act in any part of the Colony. 7.-If any person convicted under this Act shall feel himself aggrieved by such conviction, he may appeal therefrom to the then next sitting of Her Majesty's Supreme Court, holden in or nearest the place where such conviction shall have been had, or in St. John's: Provided notice of such appeal and of the cause and matter thereof be given to the convicting Magistrate in writing, within seven days next after such conviction, and the party desiring to appeal shall also, within fourteen days after such notice, give and enter into recognizance with two approved sureties before the convicting Magistrates conditioned for the appearance of the person convicted at such next sitting of the Supreme Court, on the first day of such 781 sitting, for the prosecution of the appeal with effect and without delay, to abide the judgment of the Court thereon, and for the delivery and surrender of any vessel or other property ordered to be confiscated, and to pay such costs as the Court may award. 8. No proceeding or conviction by, nor order of, any Magistrate or other officer under this Act, shall be quashed or set aside for any informality, provided the same shall be substantially in accordance with the intent and meaning of this Act. 9. Nothing in this Act shall affect the rights and privileges granted by treaty to the subjects of any state in amity with Her Majesty. 10. Any foreign fishing vessel may enter any port of entry of this island for the purpose of applying for a license under the provisions of this Act. Applications for licenses under this Act shall be made to a Customs' Officer at a port of entry in this Colony, who is hereby authorized to issue the same. The fee for such license shall be one dollar and fifty cents per registered ton, to be paid to the Customs' officer issuing said license. The form of such licenses and the terms and conditions under which the same shall be granted, shall be determined by the Governor in Council. 11. In this Act the word "vessel" shall include any boat or ship registered or not registered, jack, skiff, punt or launch, whether propelled by sails, oars or steam. No. 138.-1898, March 3: Newfoundland Statute, 61 Vict., Cap. 3.o Section. An Act respecting the Department of Marine and Fisheries. 1. Department constituted. 2. Appointment of officers. 3. Matters under the control of the department. 4. Powers of department. 5. Minister to report. 6. Fisheries Board. 7. Constitution of Board. 8. Powers, duties and functions of Board. 9. Governor in Council may make rules. [Passed 3rd March, 1898.] Section. 12. Recovery of penalties; Limitation of action; Joint and several liability; defects in form of conviction, &c., not fatal. 13. Leasing, &c., of waters for propagation of fish; Penalty: Exception; Renewal of leases, &c., of fisheries; Shell fisheries subject to this Act. 14. Assignment of new duties to department. 15. Exemption of Minister from disability. 16. Amendment. 17. Suspension of date of enforcement; Exception. 10. Saving of rights of friendly States. Be it enacted by the Governor, the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Legislative Session convened, as follows: 1. There shall be a department which shall be called "The Department of Marine and Fisheries," over which the Minister of Marine and Fisheries appointed by the Governor in Council, by Commission under the Great Seal, shall preside; and the Minister shall have the management and direction of the said department, and shall hold office during pleasure. 2. The Governor in Council may appoint an officer who shall be called "The Superintendent of Fisheries," and who shall be deputy head of the department of Marine and Fisheries; and the Governor in Council may also appoint such other officers as are necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the said department, all of whom shall hold office during pleasure. 3. The duties, powers, and functions of the department of Marine and Fisheries shall extend and apply to the following subjects and boards, and other public bodies, officers and other persons, and services and properties of the Crown, of which the said department shall have the control, regulation, management and supervision, that is to say:(1.) Pilots and pilotage and decayed pilot funds. "Act now questioned by the United States: see Appendix, pp. 4–5. (2.) Beacons, buoys, lights and light-houses, and their maintenance. (3.) Signals and signal-stations, steamers and vessels belonging to the Government of the Colony. (4.) Harbors, ports and harbor-masters; piers, wharves, and St. John's Dry Dock. (5.) Classification of vessels, and examination and granting certificates of masters and mates and others in the merchant service. (6.) Shipping masters and shipping officers; care of distressed seamen. (7.) Ship-building and inspection of steamers and vessels. (8.) Wreck commissioners, and enquiries into causes of shipwrecks, and generally such matters as refer to the marine and navigation of the Colony and its dependencies. 4. The Department of Marine and Fisheries shall administer all laws relating to the subject of sea, coast, and inland fisheries, and the management, regulation and protection thereof, and all matters and things relating thereto, or assigned by the Governor in Council to the said department. 732 5. The Minister shall make and submit to the Governor annual report on all the branches of the department under his control, to be laid before both Houses of the Legislature within fifteen days from the commencement of each Session, showing the state of each branch and the amount received and expended in respect thereof, with such further information as is requisite. 6. The Governor in Council may appoint a Board to be called "The Fisheries Board," of which the Minister of Marine and Fisheries shall be president. 7. The Fisheries Board shall consist of seven members, of whom the President, or in his absence, the Deputy Head of the Department and three members, shall constitute a quorum. 8. The powers, duties, and functions of the said Board shall be, to make enquiries and researches upon and in relation to all matters pertaining to the preservation, maintenance, improvement and development of the fisheries, and the trade, commerce and interests of the Colony, so far as the same are connected with or relate to the fisheries and fishery questions; to devise, organize and maintain such methods of collecting, preserving and diffusing such knowledge and information as they may consider best adapted to the attainment of such subjects. 9. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, make regulations for the better management and regulation of the sea, coast, and inland fisheries, to prevent or remedy the obstruction and pollution of streams, to regulate and prevent fishing, to prohibit the destruction of fish, and to forbid fishing except under authority of leases or licenses; which regulations shall have the same force and effect as if herein enacted, and may fix such modes, times or places as are deemed by the Governor in Council adapted to different localities, or otherwise expedient. (2.) Such regulations shall take effect from the date therein prescribed and after publication thereof in the Royal Gazette. (3.) Every offence against any regulation made under this Act may be stated as in violation of this Act. 92909°-S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 5-26 10. Nothing in this Act, or in any rules and regulations to be made hereunder, shall be construed to affect the rights and privileges granted by treaty to the subjects of any state or power in amity with Her Majesty. 11. Except as herein otherwise provided, every one who violates any provision of this Act, or of the regulations under it, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars and costs, and in default of payment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months; and any Justice of the Peace may grant a warrant of distress to the amount of such penalty and costs; but whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the Justice of the Peace that the offence was committed in ignorance of the law, or that because of the poverty of the defendant the penalties imposed would be oppressive, a discretionary power may be exercised. (2.) If any defendant has goods and chattels whereon the costs may be levied, the complainant may distrain for the amount under warrant by any Justice of the Peace, notwithstanding the imprisonment of the person convicted. (3.) All materials, implements or appliances used, and all fish caught, taken or killed in violation of this Act or any regulation under it, shall be confiscated to Her Majesty, and may be seized on view, by any fishery officer, or taken and removed by any person for delivery to any Justice of the Peace; and the proceeds arising from the disposal thereof may be applied towards defraying expenses under this Act. (4.) A moiety of every penalty levied by virtue of this Act shall belong to Her Majesty, and the other moiety shall be paid to the prosecutor, not being a fishery officer, together with costs taxed to him in respect thereof, but if a fishery officer is the informer, the whole shall belong to Her Majesty. (5.) Her Majesty's share of each penalty and all proceeds derived from the sale of confiscated articles under this Act, shall be paid to the Minister of Finance and Customs through the Department of Marine and Fisheries. 12. Every penalty or forfeiture imposed by this Act, or regulations made under it, may be recovered or enforced on parol_complaint, before any stipendiary Magistrate or Justice of the Peace. in a summary manner. (2.) Penalties incurred under this Act, or the regulations made under it, shall be sued for within two years from the commission of the offence. (3.) When not otherwise specified, every proprietor, owner, agent, tenant, occupier, partner, or person actually in charge, either as occupant or servant, shall be presumed to be jointly and severally liable for any penalties or moneys recoverable under any of the provisions of this Act, or of any regulation made under it. (4.) No proceeding or conviction under this Act or under any regulation made under it, shall be set aside or quashed for irregularity or defect in form, and no warrant of arrest or commitment shall be held void by reason of any defect therein, if it is therein alleged that the defendant has been convicted, and there is a good and valid conviction to sustain the same. 13. The Governor in Council, upon the recommendation of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, may authorize to set apart and to be leased, any river or other water for the natural or artificial propagation of fish; and every person who wilfully destroys or injures any place set apart or used for the propagation of fish, or who fishes therein without written permission from a fishery officer, or from the holder thereof under lease or license, or uses therein any fishing-light or other implement for fishing, during the period for which such waters are so set apart, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred dollars, and in default of payment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months. 733 (2.) Nothing in this Act contained shall preclude the granting by the Minister of written permission to obtain fish and fish spawn for purposes of stocking or artificial breeding or for scientific purposes. (3.) Lessees or licensees of fisheries shall have no claim to renewal of leases or licenses if in arrears of rent or per centage during four months after the same is due, and any lessee or licensee convicted of a violation of this Act, or any regulation under it, shall be liable to forfeit his lease or license. (4.) Shell-fish fisheries shall be subject to the provisions of this Act and any regulation made under it. 14. The Governor in Council may assign any new or other duty or power to the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, and may also assign any of the duties or powers herein before enumerated to the Minister of any other department. 15. Section 2, sub-section 1, and section 3, sub-section 5, of Chapter 4, of the Consolidated Statutes of Newfoundland, (Second Series), entitled "Of Legislative Disabilities and the Vacation of Seats in the House of Assembly," are hereby amended by the addition thereto after the words "Chairman of the Board of Works," of the words "Minister of Marine and Fisheries." 16. Chapter 122 of the Consolidated Statutes, (Second Series), entitled "of Wreck and Salvage," is hereby amended by substituting the words "The Minister of Marine and Fisheries" for the words "The Receiver General" or "The Board of Revenue" throughout. (17.) This Act shall come into force on the first day of July, A. D. 1898. (a.) Save and except the provisions of sections 9, 11, and 12, which shall come into force immediately upon the passing of this Act. 18. The Act 56th Vic., cap. 8, is hereby repealed. |