Citation and commencement

1.  These Byelaws may be cited as the Fisheries (Amendment) Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 1st January 2006.

Amendment of the Fisheries Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2003

2.  The Fisheries Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2003 (3) shall be amended as provided in Byelaws 3 to 5.

Licence duties and fees

3.  For Schedule 3 (FISHING ENGINES AND LICENCE DUTIES) there shall be substituted the following Schedule:

Byelaws 6, 7 and 10

“SCHEDULE 3FISHING ENGINES AND LICENCE DUTIES

PART ILICENCES TO FISH WITH ROD AND LINE AND HAND LINE

PART IILICENCES FOR FISHING ENGINES OTHER THAN ROD AND LINE OR HAND LINE

PART III

List of waters where there is no close season for rainbow trout

4.  In Schedule 6 in the list of rainbow trout waters where there is no annual close season for angling for rainbow trout —

(a)under the heading County Antrim there shall be inserted after the reference to “Turnagrove Fishery” a reference to “Upper Pond, The Waterworks, Cavehill Road, Belfast”;

(b)under the heading County Down there shall be inserted after the reference to “Hazelwood Rainbow Trout Fishery” a reference to “High Dam, Newtownards”; and

(c)under the heading County Down the reference to “Lough Cowey” shall be removed.

Annual close seasons and close times for commercial fishing

5.  For Byelaw 81 there shall be substituted the following Byelaw —

“81.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a person shall not, on Lough Neagh —

(a)take any coarse fish except pollen with a fishing engine, other than rod and line, during the period beginning on 1st March in any year and ending on 31st May in the same year, both dates inclusive; or

(b)take any coarse fish with a fishing engine, other than rod and line during the period commencing at 6 o'clock a.m. on any Saturday and ending 6 o'clock a.m. on the next following Monday.

(2) Paragraph (1) (a) shall not apply to the taking of coarse fish by means of a bait net by the holder of a licence for a long line for the taking of eels where such fish are for use solely as bait.”

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Byelaws)

These Byelaws amend the Fisheries Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2003.

The principal changes are as follows:–

1.  The Byelaws increase the licence duties payable from 1^st January 2006 for some fishing rod licences and some commercial fishing engines used for the taking of salmon and freshwater fish other than eels, together with the fee payable for a licence which authorises the holder to buy and sell salmon, trout and eels (Byelaw 3).

The new licence fee rates for 2006, and the size of the increases are set out below:–

2.  The Byelaws designate a number of waters as rainbow trout waters for the purposes of Byelaw 73(2)(b) of the Fisheries Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2003 which provides that there shall be no close season for angling for rainbow trout in waters so designated and remove Lough Cowey from Schedule 6 which lists those waters (Byelaw 4).

3.  The Byelaws provide that the holder of a licence for a long line for the taking of eels may take coarse fish on Lough Neagh by means of a bait net during the annual close season providing that such fish taken are for use solely as bait (Byelaw 5).