Revised Statutes of Newfoundland 1990 Chapter F-17

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Revised Statutes of Newfoundland 1990

CHAPTER F-17

AN ACT RESPECTING THE PAYMENT OF BOUNTIES ON THE REBUILDING AND REPAIRING OF FISHING AND COASTING VESSELS
Analysis

1. Short title

2. Definitions

3. Staff

4. Permit to rebuild or repair, etc.

5. Minister may issue permit

6. Bounties

7. Equipment

8. Surveys for bounties

9. Bounties payable

10. Forfeiture

11. Payment of bounty

12. Accrual of right

13. Owner to keep vessel in good condition

14. Regulations

15. Forms

16. Penalty

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Fishing and Coasting Vessels Bounties Act.

RSN1970 c136 s1

2. In this Act

(a) "approved cost" means costs approved by the minister under subsection 9(3);

(b) "bounty" means a bounty payable in accordance with this Act on the rebuilding or repairing of a vessel;

(c) "coasting" means the carrying by water transportation of goods and materials of every description to or from ports in the province;

(d) "director" means the Director of Vessel Construction and Inspection appointed in accordance with the Fishing Ships Bounties Act;

(e) "fisheries" means a fishery, including the seal fishery, which fishers residing in the province regularly carry on as a means of obtaining a livelihood and includes the catching of fish and every other phase of fishery production;

(f) "inspector" means an inspector appointed in accordance with this Act and includes the director;

(g) "length overall" or "overall length" means the length of a vessel from the forward part of the stem to the after side of the rim timbers;

(h) "minister" means the Minister of Fisheries;

(i) "permit" means a permit to rebuild or repair a vessel referred to in section 4 and issued in accordance with section 5;

(j) "rebuilt" means rebuilt in the province with new materials in accordance with this Act and the regulations after a vessel has been hauled completely out of the water and stripped for rebuilding;

(k) "registered gross tonnage" or "gross registered tons" means the gross tonnage of a vessel as shown on the register of the vessel;

(l) "repaired" means repaired in the province with new materials in accordance with this Act and the regulations where the repairs require only partial stripping and do not affect the existing hull structure of the vessel and includes the making of alterations and conversions;

(m) "ton" or "tonnage" means registered gross tonnage where the reference is to the payment of bounty and underdeck tonnage where the reference is to timber sizes forming the scantlings of vessels;

(n) "underdeck tonnage" or "tons underdeck" means the tonnage contained within the space below the main deckline of a ship derived by the following formula:

where L represents the overall length of the ship measured from the foremost part of the stemhead to the aftermost part of the transom rim timber or transom bulwark taffrail on the centre line of the ship, B represents the breadth amidships at deckline in metres to the outside of planking and D represents the greater of

(i) depth of the vessel amidships in metres from the top of deck beam at centre line of vessel to the top of transverse floors, and

(ii) .90 times the depth amidships in metres from the top of deck beam at centre line to the top of the wood keel; and

(o) "vessel" includes every description of wood vessel used for fishing and coasting or either of them and propelled by means other than oars.

RSN1970 c136 s2; 1980 c30 s1

3. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may appoint inspectors and technical and other assistants that may be necessary for the administration of this Act and they shall be responsible to the director and perform the duties which are imposed upon or delegated to them by or under this or another Act or by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council or by the minister or by the director.

RSN1970 c136 s3

4. (1) A person who intends to apply for the payment of a bounty shall, before preparing the vessel for rebuilding or repairing, apply to the minister for a permit to rebuild or repair the vessel in respect of which he or she intends to apply for the payment and shall, in respect of the vessel, at the time of making the application supply the minister with

(a) details as shown on the ship's register of the vessel;

(b) specifications of work to be done and an estimate of cost;

(c) information that the minister requests to show the applicant's ability to complete the rebuilding or repairing of the vessel; and

(d) the other information that the minister requests.

(2) To qualify for a permit an applicant,

(a) who is an individual shall be and shall satisfy the minister that he or she

(i) has been a resident of the province for at least the past year and is of legal age, and

(ii) is applying on his or her own behalf and not on behalf of some other person;

(b) that is a partnership, company, co-operative society or other body, whether or not it is incorporated, shall satisfy the minister

(i) that each individual making up the membership has been a resident of the province for at least the past year, and

(ii) that it is applying on its own behalf and not on behalf of some other person,

and each individual who applies or, in the case of a partnership, company, co-operative society or other body that applies, each individual in that partnership, company, society or body

(c) shall have and shall satisfy the minister that he or she has obtained at least 75% of his or her income from the harvesting sector of the fishery in each of the past 2 fishing seasons in his or her region;

(d) shall have and shall satisfy the minister that he or she has had fishing experience as a full-time fisher during the past 2 years either as an apprentice crew member, an owner-operator or co-owner operator for the fishing season in his or her region;

(e) shall give an undertaking to the minister that during the period of 5 years from the date of final payment of bounty the engine and power equipment of the ship will be operated only by a person who has satisfied the minister that he or she has sufficient working knowledge of marine engineering to operate the engine and power equipment; and

(f) shall give an undertaking to the minister that during the period of 5 years from the date of final payment of bounty the ship and mechanized gear will be operated only by a person who has satisfied the minister that he or she has sufficient working knowledge of navigation and the operation of mechanized fishing gear to operate the ship in a type of fishing to which it is suited.

RSN1970 c136 s4; 1980 c30 s2

5. (1) The minister may issue the permit after being satisfied with the information supplied under section 4 and that the applicant has applied in good faith.

(2) Where the director has reason to believe that the applicant will have to conform with another Act of the Legislature or of the Parliament of Canada or with a regulation made under that Act he or she shall so advise the applicant but nothing in this subsection imposes a duty on the director to see that the applicant conforms with the other Act or regulation.

RSN1970 c136 s5

6. The minister shall pay bounties under this Act only in respect of vessels that are

(a) rebuilt or repaired under a permit;

(b) rebuilt or repaired by an approved builder in accordance with the regulations;

(d) completed within a time prescribed by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council by regulations; and

(e) registered in the province.

RSN1970 c136 s6; 1980 c30 s3

7. Every vessel rebuilt or repaired under a permit may be equipped with anchors, chains, chainplates, dead-eyes, hawse pipes, rigging, sails and spars that have been in use where an inspector approves, but where the equipment referred to in this section is defective it shall be replaced by new equipment.

RSN1970 c136 s7

8. The minister shall not pay bounty in respect of a vessel unless the minister has approved the cost of rebuilding or repairing the vessel in accordance with subsection 9(3) and unless an inspector has surveyed the vessel and given a certificate of each survey to the minister

(a) where the vessel has been stripped for rebuilding or repairing;

(b) where materials satisfactory to the inspector are on the site;

(d) where the rebuilding or repairing of the vessel has been completed.

RSN1970 c136 s8

9. (1) The minister shall pay bounties under this Act only in respect of vessels

(a) which the owners or applicants for permits undertake in writing to use mainly in the fisheries or coasting for a period of 5 years from the date of issue by the director of the certificate referred to in section 11;

(b) which were older than 8 years when the permit was issued;

(c) which were registered in the province for at least 5 years immediately before the permit was issued and were during the whole of that period engaged in the fisheries or coasting or lying up in the province, but for the purposes of this paragraph no period of lying up shall be counted except with the approval of the minister;

(d) which were in need of rebuilding or repairs as a result of fair wear and tear;

(e) which were not previously in receipt of bounty for rebuilding or repairing paid under this Act; and

(f) for which the minister has issued a permit.

(2) Where the minister or a person on behalf of the minister requests, the owner of a vessel or the applicant for a permit shall supply the minister or that person with a detailed statement of the cost of the work done in rebuilding or repairing a vessel in respect of which a permit has been issued, together with the other information the minister or that person requests with respect to that work.

(3) The minister may for the purpose of this Act approve that portion of the costs referred to in subsection (2) that the minister considers fair and necessary for the work done.

(4) The bounty payable in respect of the rebuilding of a decked vessel that is over 10 tons underdeck is at the rate of 35% of the cost approved under subsection (3) for that rebuilding.

(5) The bounty payable in respect of the repairing of a decked vessel that is over 10 tons underdeck is at the rate of 35% of the cost approved under subsection (3) for those repairs.

RSN1970 c136 s9; 1977 c109 s1; 1980 c30 s4

10. (1) Where a person rebuilds or repairs a vessel under a permit and sells the vessel to a person not mainly engaged in the fisheries or coasting for purposes other than use mainly in the fisheries or coasting or allows the vessel to be used mainly for a purpose other than in the fisheries or coasting and that person has not received the bounty payable to him or her, bounty shall not be paid to a person in respect of that vessel.

(2) Where a person rebuilds or repairs a vessel under a permit and receives a bounty in respect of the vessel and within 5 years of the date of the issue of the certificate by the director under section 11

(a) that person sells the vessel to a purchaser not mainly engaged in the fisheries or coasting for purposes other than use mainly in the fisheries or coasting;

(b) that person allows the vessel in his or her own hands or in the hands of another person to be used mainly for a purpose other than in the fisheries and coasting; or

that person shall repay to the minister immediately the bounty or that portion of it that the minister considers appropriate.

(3) A person who received the bounty and another person to whom the vessel comes by sale, transfer, mortgage, operation of law or otherwise shall become and continue liable for the repayment of the bounty or the portion of it.

(4) The minister may require a person liable to repay bounty under this section to execute and deliver to the minister a statutory mortgage made and registered in accordance with the Canada Shipping Act to secure the repayment of the bounty or the portion of it.

(5) Nothing in this section requires the bounty to be repaid to the minister more than once, and the minister may release a mortgage given under this section without repayment of the bounty by the mortgagor.

(6) The minister may recover money owing under this section as a debt due the Crown.

(7) The minister may require the owner of every vessel on which bounty has been paid to furnish him or her during the 5 year period following the issue of the certificate by the director under section 11 and at those times that the minister prescribes with a statement of ownership and an affidavit or statutory declaration to the effect that the vessel is being used mainly in the fisheries or coasting.

RSN1970 c136 s10

11. When the minister receives a certificate from the director that a vessel has been rebuilt or repaired and surveyed in accordance with this Act and is otherwise qualified for a bounty, the minister shall pay the bounty from funds voted by the Legislature, and the bounty may be paid to the person to whom the permit was issued or to the executors, administrators or assigns of that person.

RSN1970 c136 s11

12. (1) The right to receive payment of a bounty accrues upon the final survey of a vessel and after she is afloat but the minister may pay an advance upon the certificate of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd surveys provided for in section 8 but the total amount which the minister may pay under this section by way of advance shall not exceed in all 3/4 of the bounty estimated to be due in respect of the vessel upon completion of the rebuilding or repairs.

(2) A person who receives an advance under subsection (1) and fails to complete the rebuilding or repairing of the vessel within the time specified in this Act shall repay to the minister in full the amount of the advance and the minister may recover it as a debt due the Crown.

RSN1970 c136 s12

13. (1) The owner of a vessel on which bounty has been paid shall keep the vessel and its equipment in good repair and otherwise show good ship's husbandry during a period of 5 years from the date of issue by the director of the certificate referred to in section 11.

(2) On instructions from the minister and for the purpose of enforcing subsection (1) an inspector may at a reasonable time inspect a vessel referred to in that subsection.

(3) When an inspector reports to the minister the results of an inspection under subsection (2), the minister may make an appropriate order in respect of the maintenance, repair or cleaning of the vessel or the repayment to the minister of the whole or a part of the bounty because of failure to comply with subsection (1).

RSN1970 c136 s13

14. Subject to the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, the minister may make regulations

(a) providing for the designation by the minister of persons as approved builders for the purpose of rebuilding or repairing vessels in accordance with this Act and the regulations;

(b) prescribing the requirements and qualifications which a person shall meet and fulfil in order to be designated as an approved builder for the purpose of this Act;

(d) prescribing standards and specifications to be met in the rebuilding or repairing of vessels under permit;

(e) prescribing the conditions under which vessels rebuilt or repaired under permit shall be rebuilt or repaired, so as to provide adequate support for them while they are being rebuilt or repaired and to provide reasonable protection from them against damage by sun, wind and weather; and

(f) generally, to give effect to the purpose of this Act.

RSN1970 c136 s14

15. The minister may prescribe forms for the purpose of this Act and the regulations.

RSN1970 c136 s15

16. A person required under this Act to furnish information or issue a certificate who, in furnishing the information or issuing the certificate, makes a statement which he or she knows to be false or recklessly makes a statement that is false is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 4 months or to both a fine and imprisonment.

RSN1970 c136 s16