WHOLESALE FISH MARKETING ACT - 1963 (ACT 156)

• Section - 1 - Fish Marketing Zones.

  • For the purposes of this Act each of the following areas shall be a fish marketing zone, that is to say-
    
    (a) the area of the port of Takoradi as delimited by the Ports Act, 1962 (Act 115);
    
    (b) the area of the port of Tema as delimited by the said Ports Act;
    
    (c) the area of the port of Elmina as delimited in the Schedule to this Act; and
    
    (d) any other area specified as a fish marketing zone by the Minister by executive instrument published in the Gazette.

• Section - 2 - Marketing Of Fish Landed In Fish Marketing Zone.

  • (1) Subject to the next following subsection no fish landed in a fish marketing zone shall, in the first instance, be offered for sale or sold except in a market designated by the Minister as the wholesale fish market for that zone (hereinafter referred to as a "wholesale market").
    
    (2) The Minister may grant an exemption from the preceding subsection as respects-
    
    (a) any fish landed as aforesaid for the purpose of being despatched to a cannery or other fish processing factory; or
    
    (b) any fish which is landed as aforesaid having been frozen and packed on board the fishing vessel, and which is to be despatched to a cold store outside the zone for distribution.
    
    (3) Any exemption granted by the Minister under the last preceding subsection shall be in writing and may be, either absolute or subject to such conditions as the Minister thinks fit, including a condition requiring the person to whom the exemption is granted to pay to any person specified in the exemption a fee or other charge. Any such fee or other charge shall be recoverable as a civil debt.
    
    (4) Any designation made by the Minister under subsection (1) of this section shall be published in the Gazette and shall be given such other publicity in the fish marketing zone concerned as the Minister may direct.
    
    (5) Any person who-
    
    (a) offers for sale or sells any fish in contravention of this section; or
    
    (b) contravenes any condition attached to an exemption granted under this section (other than a condition requiring the payment of a fee or other charge),
    
    shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred pounds or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both.

• Section - 3 - Regulations.

  • The Minister may, by legislative instrument, make regulations providing for any of the following matters, that is to say-
    
    (a) the establishment, organisation, management and operation of any wholesale market;
    
    (b) the registration of any person using a wholesale market, the cancellation of any such registration and any matters incidental thereto or connected therewith;
    
    (c) notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of section 2 of this Act, the transfer of fish landed in one fish marketing zone to another such zone;
    
    (d) the imposition of charges in respect of fish offered for sale or sold in a wholesale market, or in respect of fish transferred from one such market to another, or in respect of fish kept or stored in such a market;
    
    (e) the making, for such purposes and subject to such conditions and limitations as may be prescribed by the regulations, of bye-laws by any person appointed by the Minister to be responsible for the management and operation of a wholesale market, including bye-laws imposing penalties for the breach of a bye-law or requiring the payment of any fee or other charge:
    
    Provided that no regulation made under this paragraph shall -
    
    (i) authorise the making of a bye-law imposing as a penalty a fine exceeding twenty-five pounds or, in default of payment of such fine, a term of imprisonment exceeding three months;
    
    (ii) permit any bye-law to have effect unless that bye-law has been approved by the Minister;
    
    and
    
    (f) any other matter in respect of which the Minister considers it necessary or expedient to make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act.

• Section - 4 - Interpretation.

  • In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -
    
    "fish" means any aquatic animal (including shellfish, crustaceans, turtles and aquatic mammals), and any reference to fish landed in a fish marketing zone shall be construed as a reference only to fish landed in such a zone from a motor fishing vessel (whether or not the actual landing involves the transfer of the fish from the motor fishing vessel to any other craft of any description);
    
    "Minister" means the Minister responsible for fisheries; and
    
    "motor fishing vessel" does not include a canoe propelled by an outboard motor.

• Section - 5 - Customs Ordinance.

  • It is hereby declared that nothing in this Act shall be construed as derogating from the powers conferred upon any person under the Customs Ordinance (Cap. 167).