the eve of the election in protest of their loss of livelihood.

Arthur Farias, Allan Roderick Bean, Nelson Ible and Bernard Richards are demanding $100,000 apiece from the Ministry of Environment, according to the writs they filed in the Supreme Court this week.

The men claim this is what they have lost since Government took their lobster pot licenses away from them in a move they feel was illegal. They are represented by lawyer Julian Hall.

The quartet, all full time fishermen, were amongst a group of 20 who were licensed to trap lobsters at the end of last year.

At the start of the winter season, Mr. Bean told The Royal Gazette , they discovered that large fish were getting into the traps through the escape hatches -- which were designed to allow small reef fish and undersized lobsters get out of the trap -- and were eating the trapped lobsters.

The escape hatches were found to be larger than the regulation two and one quarter inches allowed by law, he claimed, so Fisheries Department staff were approached about the problem.

Mr. Bean said the fishermen received permission to reduce the size of the escape hatches until a permanent solution could be figured out.

"We were trying to do what was right,'' noted Mr. Bean.

"We are harvesters of this resource. We do not promote the destruction of this resource.'' However the pots were then seized and confiscated by Fisheries Department staff acting under the authorisation of then-Environment Minister John Irving Pearman -- without the fishermen's knowing.

Mr. Bean said: "They were supposed to notify us first but they didn't even have the decency. This is illegal as far as I am concerned.'' They were accused of modifying their Government issue lobster traps by placing wire over the escape hatch opening to reduce its size.

This, said Mr. Bean, was precisely the agreement that the fishermen had reached with Fisherie.

Fishermen sue Government "It was only a temporary measure. At the time we all knew we needed a permanent fix but in the meantime we needed a quick solution to stop the lobsters being killed. We were intent on working closely with the Fisheries Department.'' However Government denied that the alleged agreement had ever been reached.

Mr. Bean said there must have been a breakdown in communication between the Fisheries Department staff and the Minister but, despite their arguments, all four fishermen had their lobster fishing licenses taken away.

In addition, Mr. Richards -- who was off the Island when this all happened -- had his fishing license taken from him as well.

Officials argued that his excessive use of wire to reduce the size of the escape hatch had effectively turned his lobster pot into an illegal fish pot.

But while he was stripped of his own license, he was given leave to purchase a new one or jointly own one with another fisherman, something he has only just managed to do.

"For Government it was a dead issue. It has not been a dead issue for us,'' said Mr. Bean.

COURTS CTS ENVIRONMENT ENV