100.— The Act of 1955 is amended—

(a) by inserting after section 16 the following:

“Persons qualified to own registered sea-fishing ships.

16A.— (1) Section 16 of this Act does not apply to sea-fishing ships.

(2) Subject to section 19 of this Act respecting reciprocating states, the following shall alone be qualified to own a registered sea-fishing ship or a share in it—

(a) the Government,

(b) a Minister of the Government,

(c) a national of a Member State, or

(d) a body corporate established under and subject to the law of a Member State and having its principal place of business in a Member State.

(3) Every ship to which the provisions of subsection (2) apply shall be registered under this Act unless the ship is exempt under section 18(2) of this Act from the obligation to so register.

(4) In this section, ‘ Member State’ means a Member State of the European Communities.”,

(b) in section 18(2), by inserting after paragraph (d) the following:

“(e) a sea-fishing boat of less than 15 metres in length overall and required to be registered in the Register of Fishing Boats maintained under section 74 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 or exempt from such registration by regulations under section 76 of that Act.”,

and

(c) in section 19—

(i) by inserting after subsection (2) the following:

“(2A) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, the Government may by order provide that the citizens, subjects or nationals of a state declared under subsection (1) of this section to be a reciprocating state or bodies corporate established under and subject to the laws of that state shall—

(a) be qualified to own only a registered ship (or a share in it) which is of a particular class or description specified in the order, or

(b) not be qualified to own a registered ship (or a share in it) which is of a class or description so specified,

and subsection (2) of this section is to be construed and have effect subject to the terms of the order.”,

and

(ii) subsection (3), by deleting “subsection (1) of”.