The Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Wales) Order 2015

Made: 28 January 2015

Laid before the National Assembly for Wales: 2 February 2015

Coming into force: 27 February 2015

The Welsh Ministers make the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 1(1) of the Act, now exercisable by them[^f00004], and section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972.

Title, commencement and application

1

• (1) The title of this Order is the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Wales) Order 2015 and it comes into force on 27 February 2015.

• (2) Subject to paragraph (3), this Order applies in relation to Wales.

• (3) Article 4(c) applies in relation to Wales and “Wales” (“Cymru”), for the purposes of this paragraph only, has the same meaning as it has by virtue of section 158(1) of the Government of Wales Act 2006[^f00005].

• (4) This Order does not apply in relation to the introduction of any live fish by a person who has been —

• (a) issued with a permit under Council Regulation (EC) No. 708/2007[^f00006] concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture, or

• (b) served with a notice under regulation 7(2)(b) or (3)(b) (notices permitting movement) of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011[^f00007].

• (5) This Order does not apply to the keeping or release of live fish in inland waters.

Interpretation

2

In this Order—

• “freshwater fish” (“pysgod dŵr croyw”) means any fish living in, or able to live in, fresh water; and

• “inland waters” (“dyfroedd mewndirol”) has the same meaning as in section 221 of the Water Resources Act 1991[^f00008] except that it does not include garden ponds less than 0.4 hectares in area, which are not fished, have no links to other waters and are located within the curtilage of a residential property.

Prohibition of keeping or release of specified fish or eggs

3

• (1) No person may, except under the authority of a licence granted by the Welsh Ministers, keep or release any live freshwater fish, or the live eggs of any freshwater fish, which—

• (a) belongs to a taxonomic order specified in the first column of the table in Part 1 of the Schedule; and

• (b) is not native to England and Wales.

• (2) The requirement for a licence in paragraph (1) does not apply in relation to any species of non-native fish that is specified in the third column of the table in Part 2 of the Schedule and belongs to a taxonomic order referred to in paragraph (1).

Revocations

4

The following are revoked—

• (a) Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998[^f00009];

• (b) Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2003[^f00010]; and

• (c) regulation 29 of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011[^f00011].

SCHEDULE 1 — List of Fish

PART 1 — Taxonomic orders to which any species of freshwater fish that is not native to England and Wales belongs that may not be kept or released without a licence

PART 2 — Species of fish that are not native to England and Wales that may be kept or released without a licence

Signed

Carl Sargeant — Minister for Natural Resources, one of the Welsh Ministers — 28 January 2015

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Article 3 (1) prohibits the keeping or release in Wales, without a licence issued under the Import of Live Fish (England and Wales) Act 1980 (“the Act”), of any species of live non-native freshwater fish, or the live eggs of any such fish, belonging to the taxonomic orders listed in the table in Part 1 of the Schedule.

This Order does not apply where a person holds a permit for the introduction of those fish under Council Regulation (EC) No. 708/2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture or has been served with a notice permitting movement in relation to those fish under the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2292) (article 1(4)). This Order also does not apply to the keeping or release of live fish in inland waters (article 1(5)). The prohibition in article 3(1) does not apply in relation to fish listed in the table in Part 2 of the Schedule (article 3(2)).

It is an offence under section 3 of the Act for any person to keep or release any of the species of fish listed in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Order without a valid licence. Section 3 also makes it an offence to contravene the terms of a licence. A person who breaches the offences in section 3 is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Article 4 of this Order revokes the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) Order 1998 ([S.I. 1998/2409](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2409)) (“the 1998 Order”) in relation to Wales. It also revokes the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2003 ([S.I. 2003/416 (W.60)](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2003/416)) and regulation 29 of the Alien and Locally Absent Species in Aquaculture (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 ([S.I. 2011/2292](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2292)) (“the 2011 Regulations”), both of which made amendments to the 1998 Order. The 1998 Order, the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (Amendment) (England) Order 2003 ([S.I. 2003/25](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/25)) and regulation 29 of the 2011 Regulations were revoked in relation to England by the Prohibition of Keeping or Release of Live Fish (Specified Species) (England) Order 2014 ([S.I. 2014/143](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/143)).

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to this Order. As a result, a Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with this Order. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1972 c.68. Section 2(2) was amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c.51) and by section 3(3) of, and Part 1 of the Schedule to, the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c.7).

[^f00002]: S.I. 2010/2690.

[^f00003]: 1980 c. 27; section 1 was amended by section 132 of, and paragraph 8 of Schedule 9 to, the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (c. 43), section 105(1) of, and paragraph 62 of Schedule 11 to, the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (c. 16), section 37(2) of the Fisheries Act 1981 (c. 29), regulation 45 of and paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to S.I. 2009/463, and article 4(1) of and paragraph 158 of Part 1 of Schedule 2 to S.I. 2013/755 (W.90).

[^f00004]: By virtue of article 2(a) of and Schedule 1 to the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672), functions exercisable in relation to Wales under section 1 of the Act were transferred to the National Assembly for Wales (as constituted under the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c.38)) concurrently with any Minister of the Crown by whom they are exercisable. Those functions of the National Assembly for Wales were transferred to the Welsh Ministers by virtue of section 162 of and paragraph 30 of Schedule 11 to the Government of Wales Act 2006 (c.32).

[^f00005]: 2006 c.32. There are amendments to section 158 which are not relevant to this Order.

[^f00006]: O.J. No L 168, 28.06.07, p.1 as last amended by Regulation (EU) No 304/2011, O.J. No L 88, 4.4.2011, p. 1.

[^f00007]: S.I. 2011/2292.

[^f00008]: 1991 c.57. There are amendments to section 221 which are not relevant to this Order.

[^f00009]: S.I. 1998/2409; amended by article 2 of S.I. 2003/25, article 2 of S.I. 2003/416 and regulation 29 of S.I. 2011/2292. S.I. 1998/2409 has been revoked in relation to England by article 4(a) of S.I. 2014/143.

[^f00010]: S.I. 2003/416 (W.60).

[^f00011]: S.I. 2011/2292. Regulation 29 of S.I. 2011/2292 has been revoked in relation to England by article 4(c) of S.I. 2014/143.