It might be Bermuda lobster season but chances are the next time you dine out, the crustacean on your plate has been imported.

A local fisherman involved in the experimental lobster fishery backed claims by independent Sen. Alf Oughton that spiny lobsters were being imported into Bermuda at such a high rate that "nearly all'' those being served in local restaurants were from Florida and the Caribbean.

Furthermore, Mr. Arthur Farias claimed that local restaurants were passing them off as Bermuda lobsters.

"Fisherman's Reef and Hog Penny are about the only ones I know that take all Bermuda lobsters,'' he said. "Most of them (restaurants) buy a few Bermuda lobsters and slip in imported lobsters.'' He said locals had the best chance of buying the real thing on the road-side from fishermen themselves.

Sen. Oughton had suggested in the Senate last week that Government consider a two-month embargo on imported spiny lobsters in the same way it bans flying in certain vegetables at different times during the year.

But Fisheries director Mr. John Barnes said an embargo was not necessary.

"The lobster fishermen sell all they catch,'' he said. "Demand always exceeds supply and they sell them at tremendous prices.'' However, Mr. Farias contended: "We get rid of them but you should see the work we have to go through.

"We have to run all over the place and peddle them around and then people don't want to pay the price.'' Mr. Farias said he did not see why locals should mind paying a few extra dollars for a Bermuda lobster, which was tastier and even smelled better in the cooking pot. "You wouldn't believe the smell from imported lobsters,'' he said.

He claimed duty on imported lobsters had just been lowered.

Mr. Barnes said spiny lobsters, the species found in local waters, had been imported from overseas for years by local restaurants who preferred them because they were cheaper at $15-$18 wholesale; they came in consistent sizes and supplies were dependable even in bad weather.

Before the fish pot ban some 35,000 lobsters were being caught a year by 70-odd fishermen, Mr. Barnes said. Now, with the experimental traps being used by 22 licenced lobster fishermen, about half that amount was being caught during the season and all were being sold.

Mr. Barnes said he did not believe local restaurants were deceiving residents since most of them advertised simply "lobster dinner'' as opposed to "Bermuda lobster''.

But Mr. Farias said imported lobsters like imported fish, were now commonplace in restaurants, while their local counterparts were "100-percent tastier''.