under the supervision of Government.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Parks is now accepting applications from fishermen to participate in the 1992/93 experimental spiny lobster fishery.

The project's purpose is to find a trap that catches lobsters and not fish.

Before 1990, fishermen used the same pots to catch fish and lobster, but the pots are now banned.

There are 20 licences being offered and each fisherman will be allotted 15 traps to use from September to March. Each fisherman will have permission to modify a portion of their traps, under the supervision of the Division of Fisheries.

The modifications will help evaluate various aspects of the trap's design and performance, in an effort to find the most efficient trap.

Every fisherman will measure the size and number of lobsters and submit the data to the Fisheries Department. These statistics will be analysed to see if further modifications should be made for next year.

Few modifications were made from last year, when the project began. The number of pots was increased from 10 to 15, as suggested by the participating fishermen who felt 10 traps were not economical and more would make the experiment worthwhile.

Fisheries director Mr. John Barnes said the lobster traps to be used this year were successful last year.

"It appears very encouraging,'' he said. "It doesn't catch many fish, but it catches lobsters''.

Mr. Barnes said the findings from the experiment will be used to evaluate the potential of the spiny lobster resource.

If the three-year experiment is successful, a restructured lobster fishery will be established. Plans for this are still in development.

The Environment Ministry is offering first choice to the fishermen who took part in the experiment last year, in recognition of their commitment to the development of a lobster-specific fishery.

Application forms are available from the Fisheries Division at Coney Island.

These forms must be submitted with a $250 deposit no later than 5 p.m. August 14.