Section 1: Licensing of motor fishing boats

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, no person shall operate or navigate any motor fishing boat for the purpose of fishing or a reefer vessel for the purpose of discharging frozen fish within the territorial waters of Nigeria or its exclusive economic zone, unless that boat or reefer vessel has been duly registered and licensed.
(2)
Any person operating or navigating or causing to be operated or navigated a motor fishing boat or a reefer vessel in contravention of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and on conviction shall be liable to imprisonment for five years or to a fine of $250.000 or to both such fine and imprisonment and in addition forfeiture of the motor fishing boat and the fish or shrimp catch on board.
(3)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any motor fishing boat or a reefer vessel entering the territorial waters of Nigeria not for fishing or the disposal of fish but solely for re-fuelling at any port or for shelter or solely because the motor fishing boat or reefer vessel is in distress or there is any other emergency.