And Mr. Merle Andrew Goreham is confident he will win allowing him to return to Bermuda to fish.

Captain of the Canadian longliner Stephen B , Mr. Goreham is angry at the way his ship was boarded by armed Canadian Fisheries officers 250 miles north of Bermuda at the end of March.

He said: "I do not even think they were allowed to board the ship, but they came on dressed in riot gear and started to threaten the whole crew. It was pretty intimidating.

"They told us if we moved they would break arms and legs. It was over the top. I told them to take it easy but they just kept threatening people. We had no intention of putting up any resistance and it was frightening for all of us.

"They completely took over the ship, I could not speak to anyone except to make contact with a lawyer, who met me in Halifax.'' Mr. Goreham's brother, Mr. Osborne Goreham, said once the fisheries officers boarded Stephen B , he and four other crew members were sent down to the galley, while only Capt. Goreham was allowed in the wheelhouse.

The fisheries officers carried firearms and "steel beating sticks,'' he said, adding that they were "a little gung ho.

'' The ship was towed to Halifax, where her owner, Mr. Jim Redmond of Hilton Fisheries Ltd., has been prevented from boarding her.

A fisherman for 30 years, Mr. Goreham is due in court in Halifax today to answer the charge of fishing without a licence in the North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation convention area.

He said: "I will be pleading not guilty. I want to fight this. Nobody has said you cannot fish inside the 200-mile limit around Bermuda. We were doing nothing wrong.

"The Canadian government has said if we are fishing out of Bermuda they will take away our licence. That means they will take away our livelihood.

"I most definitely want to come back to Bermuda. There is definitely a fishery there. It will be good for the Canadian fishermen and good for the Bermudian economy.'' The arrest of the Stephen B spelled the end of the Bermuda Government experiment in which seven Canadian longliners were licensed to fish this year within the Island's 200-mile limit.

The Canadians were attempting to avoid a moratorium placed on fishing off the eastern coast of Canada, which has decimated the fishing industry.

Now, because of the Canadian action, three other Canadian boats still working in the Bermuda area headed home late last week.

Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons estimated the Canadians injected nearly $200,000 into the local economy, as well as training Bermudians and providing the Department of Fisheries with useful data.

Mr. Osborne Goreham said the fishing boats Eastpack II and Flying Dart , which left Bermuda on Thursday, arrived home in Shelburne County on Sunday afternoon. The Renee and Trevor , which left a day later, had yet to arrive yesterday.

He said: "I'm not sure if they're getting charged or not. That's still up in the air.''