THE FISHERIES ACT

1st January 2018

 

1. This Act  may be cited as the Fisheries Act 2018 and shall come into operation on such day as may be appointed by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

" access agreement" means an agreement entered into by the agreement entered into by the Minister, in accordance with section 49 permitting  to the fisheries waters for fishing or any related activity;

"Appeals Tribunal" means the Tribunal established under Part XII;

" applicant" means a person who makes an application under this Act;

"aquaculture" means the cultivation, propagation or farming of fish whether from egg, spawn, spat or seed, including the rearing of fish lawfully taken from the wild or lawfully imported into Jamaica or by other similar processes

"aquaculture facility" includes any facility any equipment, area, enclosure, construction or site (whether on land or in water), in which aquaculture is conducted;

"aquaculture gear" means any equipment used in the conduct of aquaculture, including rope, socking material, collection material, nets, sea pens, tanks, incubation equipment, raceways, transport tanks, containers, and buoys;

"aquaculture management area" means any area means declared by the Minister under section 16 to be an aquaculture management area;

" aquaculture management plan" means a plan approved under section 13 for the management area;

" aquaculture management zone" means an area within an aquaculture management area, declared under section 16 to be an aquaculture management zone, in which fisheries, aquaculture, and related activity is managed;

"aquaculture product" means fish or part of a fish or an aquatic plant or animal, whether dead or alive, which is cultivated, bred farmed, propagated, raised or ranched within an aquaculture facility in Jamaica or in the fisheries waters;

" aquatic plant or animal" means a plant or an animal, including where applicable, its eggs and gametes, that all stages of its development or life cycle,has water  as its natural habitat;

"Authority" means the National Fisheries Authority established under section 5;

"buffer zone" means an area of the fisheries waters established to minimize, eliminate and prevent actual and potential adverse impact to any of the following-

(a) fishery management area;

(b) fishery management zone

(c) an aquaculture management 

(b) a fishery management zone;

(c) an aquaculture management area;

(d) an aquaculture management zone; or 

(e) a fish sanctuary;

"Chief Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority appointed under Section 7;

"close season" means  the period declared by order by the Minister to be a close season in relation to a fishery or species of fish, during  which period the fishery or species to which the order applies shall not be fished;

" commercial aquaculture" means fishing for the purpose of sale;

"conveyance" includes a motor vehicle, an aircraft, a watercraft or any other means  of transport or any floating device, used to transport fish, aquaculture product or any equipment;

"Council" means the National Fisheries Advisory Council appointed under Section 10;

"deleterious substance"  means a substance that, if added to the to fisheries waters would degrade or alter or form part of a process of degradation or alteration of the quality of the fisheries waters so that it is rendered or is likely to be rendered harmful to fish or fish habitat or the use by any person of fish that frequent the fisheries waters;

"deposit" includes discharging, spraying, releasing, spilling, leaking, seeping, pouring. emitting, emptying, throwing, dumping or placing;

"document" means, in addition to a document in writing, anything in which information of any description is recorded;

" drift net fishing" means fishing with the use of gill net or other combination of nets which are -

(a) designed to enmesh, entrap or entangle fish, while drifting in the fisheries waters;

(b) of such length as may be determined by the Minister by Order; and 

(c) not attached to the land or seabed;

"electrical current fishing device" means any electrical current generating device used to directly discharge electrical current to catch, injure, stun or kill fish;

"equipment" means any implement  or other thing that can be used in the course of fishing or aquaculture or any related activity, and includes-

(a) in the case of fishing, any fishing gear, winch item device, machine, spear gun, underwater diving apparatus or gear; or

(b) in the case of aquaculture, any aquaculture gear;

 

" Exclusive Economic Zone" means the Exclusive Economic Zone  established under section 3 of the Exclusive Economic Zone Act;

"farming" in relation to any fish, means the controlled propagation, breeding, cultivation, growth, rearing, and harvesting of such fish;

"fish"  means the whole or part of any aquatic plant or animal, whether piscine or not and includes any mollusc, crustacean, coral, sponge, holothurian or other echinoderm, reptile and marine mammal (including their eggs and all juvenile stages thereof), its products and by-products

"fishing aggregating  device" means any device placed in the water to aggregate fish and includes  any natural floating object upon which the device has been placed to facilitate its location;

"fish habitat" means the fisheries waters or aquaculture management areas which form the habitat for fish or a particular species of fish;

 

" fishing processing establishment" means any place (other than a fishing vessel or post-harvest handling facility) in which fish or aquaculture product is processed or handled for trade;

 

"fisher" means a person who licensed by the Authority to engage in fishing ;

"fisheries waters" means -

 (a) the -

(i) internal waters;

(ii) archipelagic waters; or 

(iii)  territorial sea, as defined in the Maritime Areas Act;

(b) the Exclusive Economic Zone as established under the Exclusive Economic Zone Act;

(c) inland waters of Jamaica such as rivers and ponds and

(d) such others waters as may be prescribed;

 

" fishery or fisheries" means one or more stocks of fish or any fishing operations or related activity based on such stocks which can be treated as a unit for the purpose of management talking into account any geographical, scientific, technical, recreational, economic and other relevant characteristics;

 

" fishery inspector" means a person who is-

(a) a game warden approved as such as under the Wild Life Protection Act;

(b) a marine officer under the Exclusive Economic Act or the Maritime Areas Act;

(c) an officer of the Natural Resources Conservation Authority duly authorized under section 20 of the Natural Resources Conservations Authority Act;

(d)  an authorized