CHAPTER
242
AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES |
ARRANGEMENT OF
SECTIONS |
SECTION |
|
|
|
|
Penalty for breach of rules. |
|
Prohibits export of cave earth or guano. |
Second or subsequent offence. |
|
|
|
|
CHAPTER 242 |
AGRICULTURE AND
FISHERIES |
An Act to
provide for the supervision and development of agriculture and fisheries in The
Bahamas. | 50 of 1963
9 of 1920
43 of 1964
10 of 1965
13 of 1969
E.L.A.O., 1974
19 of 1975
13 of 1977
5 of 1987
12 of 1997 |
[Assent 20th
December, 1963]
[Commencement 7th January, 1964] |
1. This Act may be cited as the Agriculture and
Fisheries Act. | Short title. |
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires- | Interpretation. |
"Department"
means the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries; |
"Director"
means the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries; |
"Minister"
means the Minister responsible for Agriculture; |
"peace
officer" includes any person authorised in writing by the Director to
enforce the provisions of this Act or any rules made thereunder; |
"vessel"
means a ship, boat, or other surface craft and includes an aircraft. |
3. The staff of the Minister shall comprise a Director
of Agriculture and Fisheries who shall be the technical adviser and chief
executive officer of the Department and such other officers as may from time to
time be authorised by Parliament. | Staff. |
4. The Minister may make rules for all or any of the
following purposes- | Rules. |
(a) to define
areas hereinafter called "protected areas" within which it shall be
unlawful for any person except a licensee especially licensed in that behalf to
plant, propagate, take, uproot or destroy any species of plant; |
(b) the issue,
amendment, transfer or revocation of licences for any of the purposes of this
Act or any rules made thereunder and the terms and conditions upon which such
licences may be issued, amended, transferred or revoked; |
(c) to
conserve, uproot, or destroy any specified kind of plant; |
(d) to provide
for the examination, seizure, forfeiture and disposal of any articles taken,
captured, destroyed or killed contrary to the provisions of a licence or of any
rules made under this Act; |
(e) the grading,
packing and inspection of fruit and vegetable produce intended for export; |
(f) the
inspection, grading, manufacture and packing of straw braid and articles made
wholly or partly from straw or straw fibre intended for sale or export, and for
the seizure, forfeiture and disposal of any such straw braid or articles as
aforesaid the grading, manufacture or packing of which does not comply with any
rule made under this paragraph; |
(g) the
management of the Botanical Station; |
(h) the
establishment, management and regulation of produce exchanges; |
(i) generally
for carrying into effect the purposes of this Act. |
5. Any person committing a breach of any rule for which
no penalty is prescribed by this Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a
penalty of four hundred dollars or to imprisonment for one year. | Penalty for breach of rules. |
6. Any person, whether holding a licence or not, found
in possession of any article prohibited to be used by the terms of a licence or
the rules made under this Act and failing to give a satisfactory explanation of
such possession shall be liable oil summary conviction to a
fine of five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for one year or to both such
fine and imprisonment. | Penalty for possession. |
7. (1) It shall not be lawful to export cave earth or
guano from The Bahamas. | Prohibits export of cave earth or guano. |
(2) If any cave
earth or guano shall be exported, or be water borne to be so exported, it shall
be forfeited. |
(3) Any person who
acts in contravention of any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty
of an offence against this Act and shall, in addition to the forfeiture of the
said cave earth or guano, be liable on summary conviction to a
fine of four hundred dollars or to imprisonment for six months or to both such
fine and imprisonment. |
8. Any person convicted of an offence under this Act
(other than section 7 thereof) or any rules made thereunder who is again
convicted of a second or subsequent offence shall be liable to double the
amount of penalty or fine, or to imprisonment for twice the maximum of
imprisonment which might otherwise be imposed or to both such fine and
imprisonment. | Second or subsequent offence. |
9. Upon the conviction of any person of an offence
under this Act (other than section 7 thereof), or the rules made thereunder,
the court before whom the charge has been heard may make any order that the
court may think fit awarding the half, or any lesser portion, of any fine
imposed and recovered to the person on whose information the charge has been
laid. | Awards to informers. |
10. (1) The Minister shall lay upon the table of each
House of Parliament before the end of April or as soon as practicable
thereafter in every year a report dealing with- | Reports. |
(a) the progress and condition of agriculture in The Bahamas; |
(b) the
measures adopted by the Department in the discharge of its duties and powers;
and |
(c) the
financial expenditure and receipts of the Department during the previous year. |
11. Nothing in this Act contained shall affect any
rights of the Crown within the waters of The Bahamas or the exercise of such
rights by the Crown. | Crown rights. |
12. Nothing in this Act contained shall affect any
contract that was valid and subsisting immediately prior to the seventh day of
January, 1964 and which had been entered into by the Agricultural and Marine
Products Board (abolished by this Act on the said date) and any such contract
shall be deemed to be a contract entered into by the Minister on behalf of the
Government of The Bahamas. | Contracts. |