12.— (1) The Minister may, for the proper management and conservation and rational exploitation of the State’s fishing quota and fishing effort under the common fisheries policy, issue notices to be complied with by the owners or masters of Irish sea-fishing boats and persons on board them with regard to prohibitions or restrictions on the catching of fish or the quantity of fish which may be caught in a specified area.

(2) A notice may restrict or prohibit for a specified period the catching, retention on board or landing of a specified fish stock or group of fish stocks or a quantity of such in a specified area and may be addressed to all or certain types, lengths, sizes or classes of sea-fishing boats.

(3) The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat shall not engage in or cause or permit any person on board to engage in fishing for fish in a specified area in which the catching, retention on board or landing of such fish is prohibited by a notice.

(4) An Irish sea-fishing boat shall not have or retain, and the master of the boat shall not cause or permit the boat or any person on board to have or retain, any fish on board which is prohibited by a notice.

(5) An Irish sea-fishing boat or a person on board the boat shall not have or retain on board in a specified area or specified period—

(a) more than the quantity of fish, or

(b) such quantities of fish which are more than the catch composition,

permitted by a notice in respect of the area nor land more than that quantity.

(6) The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat shall not, unless permitted by a notice, during the specified period in a notice cause or permit the boat to be used, in a specified area mentioned in the notice, for the trans-shipment of fish specified in the notice or cause or permit such boat to engage in trans-shipment operations at sea.

(7) The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat—

(a) before setting out on a voyage to fish for fish specified in a notice the fishing of which is restricted by the notice, shall, if required by the notice, inform a sea-fisheries protection officer of the expected port at which the fish is intended to be landed from the boat on completion of the voyage,

(b) in a specified area mentioned in a notice before any entry into port or trans-shipment of fish from the boat, shall if required by the notice, inform a sea-fisheries protection officer of the time and location of the entry or trans-shipment, as the case may be, whether inside or outside the State and the quantity of fish concerned, and

(c) shall if required by the notice not land the fish at any port or place, unless on each occasion a sea-fisheries protection officer has given prior approval of the landing.

(8) A notice, specifying the date and time of its issue and the date from which it comes into force, not being a day earlier than the day after its first publication, shall be published, in such manner as the Minister considers appropriate and expedient in the circumstances (including electronic means, whether by electronic-mail, facsimile, the internet, or otherwise, or by publication in a newspaper published and circulating in the State or to organisations the Minister considers representative of the interests of persons engaged in sea-fishing).

F7[(9) Without prejudice to subsection (8), notification of the publication of a notice under that subsection shall be made by publishing a notification in Iris Oifigiil and such notification shall include the date on which, and manner in which, the notice was published.]

(10) A copy of the Iris Oifigiúil purporting to contain a F7[notification] may be produced in every court and in all legal proceedings and is evidence, unless the contrary is shown, of the F7[notification].

(11) A copy of a notice, which has endorsed on it a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer of the Department (authorised in that behalf by the Secretary General) stating that the copy is a true copy of the notice may, without proof of signature of that officer, be produced in every court and in all legal proceedings and is evidence, unless the contrary is shown, of the notice.

(12) The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat who contravenes subsection (3), (4) or (6) commits an offence.

(13) Where there is a contravention of subsection (5) the master of the Irish sea-fishing boat upon which the contravention occurred commits an offence.

(14) The master of an Irish sea-fishing boat who fails to comply with subsection (7) commits an offence.

(15) It is the duty of the master of an Irish sea-fishing boat to keep himself or herself informed of notices relating to fishing from his or her boat.

(16) The Minister may authorise in writing an officer of the Department to issue a notice on his or her behalf.

(17) In this section “notice” means a notice issued under subsection (1).