tuna stocks, Fisheries Director Mr. John Barnes said yesterday.

Mr. Barnes made his comments after recent talks in New York with officials from Canada and the United Kingdom.

The meeting came after a dispute earlier this year over Bermuda's decision to license Canadians to fish for swordfish and blue-finned tuna near the Island.

The Canadians protested that swordfish and blue-finned tuna the Canadian boats caught near Bermuda were subtracted from the Canadian quota as a member of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT).

Eventually, the Canadian longliner Stephen B was arrested by her own Government outside Bermuda's 200-mile exclusion zone, and all the Canadian ships went home.

Mr. Barnes said the talks in New York last week helped give Bermuda an "international perspective'' on recent developments in fisheries.

Canada was "very supportive of Bermuda becoming a member of ICCAT,'' because the Island could then have a quota for blue-finned tuna. Fish the Canadians landed here "would not cut into the existing Canadian quota.'' There were moves afoot to put quotas on other species, like swordfish, and possibly to restrict the import of fish from countries which did not observe the ICCAT quotas.

The only major fishing nations that did not belong to ICCAT were Italy and Taiwan.

Bermuda exported some fish to Canada, swordfish to the United States, and tuna to Japan.

However, Bermuda could not simply join ICCAT, even if Government decided that was the right thing to do, Mr. Barnes said.

Membership could only be obtained by petitioning the food and agriculture division of the United Nations. As a dependent territory, Bermuda could only do that through the United Kingdom.

Options being explored were Bermuda trying to join ICCAT in that way, or the UK joining on Bermuda's behalf.

ICCAT, based in Madrid, only meets once a year, in November. Bermuda has held observer status for some time.

The UN was having a conference on highly migratory fish stocks, which included tuna and marlins. It was likely an international convention would result, Mr.

Barnes said. Due to the recent talks, Bermuda would have the chance for input into what was decided.

Canada recently passed legislation requiring any Canadian ship that wanted to fish anywhere else in the world to purchase a Canadian licence for $500.

Canadian boats would not be precluded from purchasing a Canadian licence and also paying to fish in Bermuda, Mr. Barnes said. But due to Canada's ICCAT membership, any Canadian licence they were issued would restrict them from taking swordfish or blue-finned tuna.