The Act Management Section 28 - Power of the Scottish Ministers to conduct inquiries and obtain information
83.Section 28(2)(a) amends section 64 of the 2003 Act (power of the Scottish Ministers to conduct inquiries and obtain information) to insert a new subsection (1)(za), which requires persons having rights in a salmon fishery or freshwater fishery to provide information relating to the fishery to the Scottish Ministers.
84.Section 28(2)(b) amends section 64(1)(a) of the 2003 Act to enable Ministers to exercise their powers under that provision without expressly having to ensure no damage is done to the fishery or no interference is caused to the rights of the owner or occupier of the fishery. It is inevitable that the exercise of the section 64(1)(a) powers will give rise to interference with property rights. But the powers in the 2003 Act (which derive from the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Protection) (Scotland) Act 1951 (c.26)), have and will continue to be exercised proportionately and in the vast majority of cases with the full co-operation of the owner, proprietor or occupier of such rights, for the wider public interest of protecting and developing salmon and trout stocks. Accordingly, the amendments secure removal of text no longer considered to be significant as regards exercise of the power.
85.Section 28(3) amends section 64(2) of the 2003 Act to clarify that the provisions of section 64 of the 2003 Act apply to persons “having rights in a salmon fishery or freshwater fishery”. Section 28(4) of the Act inserts a new subsection (3) into section 64 of the 2003 Act to define that term.