The House of Assembly has passed a bill bringing fines of up to $25,000 or jail of up to two years for people caught fishing in newly defined zones called ?aggregation areas?.

And The Fisheries Amendment (Number Two) Act 2006 also brings in $1,000 fines for people laying anchor in a protected area.

Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield said: ?This amendment will help the overall management of the fishing industry to ensure better protection of the fishing stocks.?

It also gives the Minister powers to prohibit fishing in certain areas for up to 90 days in order to preserve stocks and protect spawning sites.

The idea being that threatened fish sometimes school in areas not previously protected.

Plus, with the Amendment, the minister will be able to give policy directions to the commercial fishing council.

Opposition Environment spokesman Cole Simons said the bill should have gone further.

?It reiterates this Government doesn?t have a national fisheries development plan if we are concerned about the sustainability of our fishing industry.?

He called for a marine authority to bring together stakeholders and suggested a fisheries market be set up similar to the farmers? market which used to run in Bull?s Head.

Such sites needed to be in both ends of the island said Mr. Simons.

He said fishing licences should be treated like taxi licences ? an investment which could be sold on by the owner.

Mr. Simons pointed out that fish were apt to move around and asked why had a time limit of up to 90 days been chosen.

And he said there was a need for qualifications to be attached to the commercial fishing licence.

He said commercial fishermen took tourists out without necessarily having first aid skills which could potentially put lives at risk.

?It?s important we set up standards,? said Mr. Simons who called for first aid skills to be part of it.

He also said it was important to monitor fishermen to ensure their crew were covered for insurance and pension payments.

Mr. Simons said he knew one person who had worked for small businesses all her life but found four of her employers had not paid over dues they had deducted, leaving her short on her pension when she retired.

If breaches were found licenses could be withheld suggested Mr. Simons.

He also lamented the law which requires a licence for any fishing.

?I like to fish ? once or twice a year. Under the legislation I can?t go fishing unless I buy a licence. It makes no sense to me.?

It sounded the death knell to a Bermudian tradition said Mr. Simons who said licences should be attached to people who own boats who could be responsible for those who use their boat.

Opposition House leader John Barritt said the way the amendment was tabled was confusing as you had to go on the internet to match it up with the principle act to make any sense of it.

?I?m thinking of the general public here. The people who actually fish,? he said.

He called on Government to paste in the amendments to the main act to make it easier to follow.

At one point, Minister Butterfield proved she was listening to criticisms from her colleague across the aisle. She agreed to remove the words ?protected areas? from some sections of the amendment because those words may have overstated what the Ministry was trying to accomplish.

Ms Butterfield later told Mr. Barritt, ?sometimes when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.?