Furious fishermen yesterday claimed Government handed out around a dozen new commercial licences -- but did not tell anyone they were going to do it.

And last night one man -- who forked out a small fortune to buy an existing licence -- slammed the $300-apiece handout.

He said: "The regulations say that the Minister has to advertise that applications are being accepted for new licences -- and he never did.'' The man -- who asked not to be named -- added: "I'm furious. I don't see why people should have to pay $10,000 and some others only have to pay $300.'' Another professional fisherman -- who currently works on someone else's boat -- said: "It seems like a real fishy situation to me.

"I work on a boat and I wanted a licence. I was really interested and I didn't know these 12 licences were on offer.'' He added: "I inquired about a licence because there was a boat for sale and I asked the Fisheries Department to let me know if a licence came up. I was never notified.

"I don't think that was a very nice way to treat fishermen who are already in the business.'' One of the fishermen said new licences had been frozen since the 1980s.

He added: "The Minister can break the moratorium because it's not in the regulations -- but he does have to advertise.'' And he claimed: "Even the Fisheries officials were furious. They didn't know anything about it until they were told to inspect the boats.'' The fisherman added that the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries had told him adverts had run in The Royal Gazette , Mid-Ocean News and the Official Gazette at the start of the year.

But he insisted he had checked the Official Gazette and found no trace of an advert for new licences.

The Mid-Ocean News carried an advert on January 29, advising fishermen that they had to submit 1998 statistics by February 1.

And underneath, the advert added: "Please be advised that the relicensing of all commercial fishing vessels will take place at the Division of Fisheries, Coney Island, from February 1 until 5 p.m. on March 31.'' The advert added that no applications would be considered after that and includes the Fisheries Division phone number for anyone looking for further details.

But it made no specific mention of a thaw in the 1980s freeze on new licences.

Agriculture and Fisheries chief John Barnes, however, insisted there was nothing underhanded about the situation.

He said: "All licences -- because they're annual licences -- are new licences.'' And he pointed out Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson had signalled earlier that he wanted to reinstate some licences to people who had lost them in the past.

Mr. Barnes added: "These were the standard Government adverts. There is no fixed number of licences. It's up to the Minister to decide.'' And he added some people without licences had applied every year for up to 15 years.

But he admitted: "Maybe it was obscure -- but the advert did go in several times.''