Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner halted the trial of two fishermen after throwing tough questions at a fisheries warden about the workings of a GPS designator, key to establishing where the men were allegedly caught.

Raymond Ray, 50, of Shore Lane, Tucker's Town and Jeffery Lindo, 51, of Middle Road, Southampton deny fishing in a protected breeding area.

They were allegedly found fishing at about 8.45 a.m. on June 16 in an area between Pompano Beach Club and Sonesta Beach Hotel. This area is seasonally closed to fishing by the Department of Environmental Protection in an attempt to allow seven species of fish to spawn.

Fisheries Warden Jonathan Siese told the court that he was on patrol when he was notified by Marine Police of a boat in the protected area.

"I went to the area to investigate and found a small red aluminium boat with two men in it. They were fishing because they had lines running from their hands into the water."

He said he informed the men that they were fishing in a protected area and asked them to wind up their lines before he boarded the boat.

"I took my hand-held global positioning system with me and showed Mr. Ray their position which is in a protected area. The GPS reading was 32 degrees, 12.251 minutes North and 64 degrees, 55.643 minutes North," he told the court.

Mr. Warner questioned the use of GPS in court to prove that the men where in fact in a protected area.

"You could have bought that at Radio Shack, how do I know it works?" Mr. Warner asked.

Mr. Warner said the Crown counsel needed to prove that the handheld GPS was working properly on June 16 and that there would be no question as to the validity of the readings taken by the Fisheries warden.

The case was adjourned until February 25.