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Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 as amended

Part 4 of the Act protects fisheries and their habitats. It is an offence under this legislation to :-
  • Use or possess deleterious matter for the capture, destruction or injury of fish.
  • Pollute a watercourse.
  • Take, sell, purchase, possess, obstruct the passage, injure or disturb the spawn or fry of salmon, trout or eels or injure or disturb spawning beds where the spawn or fry of salmon, trout or eels exist.
  • Remove any material from the bed of a river without the consent of the Fisheries Conservancy Board.
  • Disturb spawning salmon or take unseasonable salmon.
  • Possess immature salmon for sale, or take undersized pollen.
  • Obstruct the passage of fish or fail to protect fish where water is abstracted and requires the construction of a fish pass where a weir is built or an existing weir is reinstated or altered.
Enforcement is carried out by the Fisheries Conservancy Board except in the Foyle and Carlingford catchments. The Loughs Agency of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission is responsible for enforcing the provisions detailed at 6 and 7 in the Foyle and Carlingford catchments. The maximum penalty is £2,500.