Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson ended this month.

The amnesty was aimed at fishermen who still use fish pots banned in 1991 by then Environment Minister Ann Cartwright DeCouto. A public poll last month found four out of five people do not want the reintroduction of fish pots in local waters.

The fish pots controversy resurfaced during the Green Paper debate when Government presented a report on the environment to the House of Assembly and outlined its Year 2000 plan.

Fishermen voiced outrage to The Royal Gazette that fish pots were banned initially and say that this amnesty was another political decision that did not work out. Lifetime fisherman and one-time Progressive Labour Party candidate Danny Farias said: "Our environment proper have been suffering from politics.'' Mr. Farias says that Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto was operating on a political agenda when she banned fish pots and was misinforming Bermuda about the fishing problems.

Agriculture and Fisheries Director John Barnes said that fish wardens normally found four to six fish pots a month.

Mr. Barnes noted that although the number of turn-ins was small, fish pots were frequently destroyed by private citizens.

Some people, however, were wary about telling the authorities in case they were accused of owning the fish pot -- or faced repercussions from fishermen.

Mr. Barnes was unwilling to release names, but said people would notify Agriculture and Fisheries once they had destroyed a fish pot.

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