A new law which will make it illegal for people to fish for pleasure from motor boats without a licence was described by an Opposition Senator yesterday as ?a classic case of bureaucracy gone wild?.

Bob Richards said enjoying the Island?s marine environment gave people the chance to escape from the restrictions placed on people in Bermuda.

But he said the Fisheries Amendment Act 2006 was an attempt to extend those restrictions to the marine environment.

?As someone who enjoys that environment I find this extremely irritating,? he said. ?What kind of law is it that can make criminals out of a totally innocent experience. It?s ridiculous. It?s bureaucracy gone wild, bureaucracy run amok.?

He added that it was also ?total nonsense? to make people who have gone out fishing for the day report their catch to the Government.

?We have enough pressures and tensions and stress on this Island. Today life is stressful and one of the ways we try to release that stress is to go out in the water.?

The Opposition Senate Leader, Kim Swan, said the United Bermuda Party supported the amendment to the Fisheries Act 1972 but added that he would like to see a monthly quota for rockfish for commercial fishermen.

He said there was some disquiet within the industry regarding the changes. ?PR is going to be needed,? he added.

Sen. Swan added that the Island?s waters were under threat ?even from persons that are not from our shores? that come in search of Bermuda?s ?wonderful bounty?.

Independent senator Walwyn Hughes welcomed the legislation and said the sea was a national resource that needed to be safeguarded and protected.

But he said it was a ?nonsense? that the penalty under the Act for catching fish or lobsters without a licence was $25,000 when the same offence attracted a fine of just $100 under another new law, the Maritime Offences Procedure Act 2006.

The bill was passed, as was another new law, the Endangered Animals and Plants Act 2006.