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SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - LONG TITLE

An Act to provide for prohibiting the Catching of Seals at certain
periods in Behring Sea and other parts of the Pacific Ocean
adjacent to Behring Sea, and for regulating the Seal Fisheries in
those Seas.{1}
[27th June 1895]
NPreamble rep. by SLR 1908

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 1
Power to prohibit by Order in Council the hunting of seals in
Behring Sea and adjacent parts of the Pacific Ocean.

1.(1) Her Majesty the Queen may, by Order in Council, prohibit,
during the period specified in the Order, the catching of seals by
British ships in such parts of the seas to which this Act applies
as are specified in the Order.

(2) While an Order in Council under this Act is in force

(a)a person belonging to a British ship shall not kill, take, or
hunt, or attempt to kill or take, any seal during the period and
within the seas specified in the Order; and

(b)a British ship shall not, nor shall any of the equipment or
crew thereof, be used or employed in such killing, taking, hunting,
or attempt.

(3) If there is any contravention of this section, any person
committing, procuring, aiding or abetting such contravention shall be
guilty of a misdemeanour within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping
Act, 1894, and the ship and her equipment and everything on board
thereof shall be subject to forfeiture to Her Majesty.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 2
Power to regulate seal fishing.

2.(1) Her Majesty the Queen may by Order in Council make, as
respects such parts of the seas to which this Act applies as are
specified in the Order, regulations

(a)for entering in the official log of a ship particulars respecting
the hunting, killing, and taking of seals, and

(b)for regulating the hunting and taking of seals, with power to
prohibit or restrict the use therein of any particular kind of
vessels, methods, or implements.

(2) If there is any contravention of any such regulation any person
who committed, procured, aided or abetted such contravention shall be
liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(3) If the regulations under this section provide for the entry of
particulars in the official log of a ship, the provisions of the
Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, with reference to official logs
(including the penal provisions), shall apply to every ship engaged
in seal fishing within such of the seas to which this Act applies
as are specified in the Order.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 3
Procedure for enforcing Act.

3.(1) Any offence or fine under this Act may be prosecuted or
recovered in like manner as if it were an offence or fine under
the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.

(2) For the purpose of the forfeiture of any ship under this Act,
section seventy-six of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall apply.

(3) Where any commissioned officer on full pay in the naval service
of Her Majesty the Queen has reasonable cause to believe that,
during the period and in the seas specified in an Order in Council
under this Act, any British ship has been used or employed in
contravention of this Act, or of any regulation made thereunder, he
may stop and examine her, and detain her or any portion of her
equipment or any of her crew, and may seize the ship's certificate
of registry.

(4) For carrying into effect an arrangement with any foreign State,
an Order in Council under this Act may provide that the powers
under this Act of such commissioned officer may, subject to any
limitations, conditions, modifications, and exceptions specified in the
Order, be exercised in relation to a British ship and the
equipment, crew and certificate thereof by such officers of the said
foreign State as are specified in the Order, or in relation to a
ship of the said foreign State and the equipment, crew and papers
thereof by such British officers as are specified in the Order.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 4
Provision as to ship's papers.

4.(1) Where an officer has power under this Act to seize a ship's
certificate of registry, he may, subject to the directions of an
Order in Council under this Act, either retain the certificate and
give a provisional certificate in lieu thereof, or return the
certificate with an indorsement of the grounds on which it was
seized; and in either case may, if the ship appears to him to be
liable to forfeiture, direct the ship, by an addition to the
provisional certificate or to the indorsement, to proceed forthwith
to a specified port, being a port where there is a British court
having authority to adjudicate in the matter, and if this direction
is not complied with, the owner and master of the ship shall,
without prejudice to any other liability, each be liable to a fine
not exceeding one hundred pounds.

(2) Where in pursuance of this section a provisional certificate is
given to a ship, or the ship's certificate is indorsed, any officer
of customs in Her Majesty's dominions or British consular officer
may detain the ship, until satisfactory security is given for her
appearance in any legal proceedings which may be taken against her
in pursuance of this Act.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 5
Evidence.

5.(1) A statement in writing, purporting to be signed by an officer
having power in pursuance of this Act to stop and examine a ship
as to the circumstances under which or grounds on which he stopped
and examined the ship, shall be admissible in any proceedings, civil
or criminal, as evidence of the facts or matters therein stated.

(2) If evidence contained in any such statement was taken on oath
in the presence of the person charged in the evidence, and that
person had an opportunity of cross-examining the person giving the
evidence and of making his reply to the evidence, the officer
making the statement may certify that the evidence was so taken,
and that there was such opportunity as aforesaid.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 6
Orders in Council.

6.(1) Her Majesty the Queen in Council may make, revoke, and alter
Orders for the purpose of this Act, and every such Order shall be
forthwith laid before both Houses of Parliament and published in the
London Gazette.

(2) Any such Order may contain any limitations, conditions,
modifications, and exceptions, which appear to Her Majesty in Council
expedient for carrying into effect the object of this Act.

SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) ACT 1895 - SECT 7
Application, construction, short title, and duration of Act.

7.(1) This Act shall apply to the animal known as the fur seal,
and to any marine animal specified in that behalf by an Order in
Council under this Act, and the expression "seal" in this Act shall
be construed accordingly.

(2) This Act shall apply to the seas [within such part of the
Pacific Ocean as is north of the thirtieth parallel of north
latitude, including the seas of Behring, Kamchatka, Okhotsk and
Japan], and shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the
provisions of the Behring Sea Award Act, 1894.

(3) The expression "equipment" in this Act includes any boat,
tackle, fishing or shooting instruments, and other things belonging
to a ship.

(4) This Act may be cited as the Seal Fisheries (North Pacific)
Act, 1895.

Subs.(5)(6) rep. by SLR 1908