ill-timed raid on his establishment last Friday which, he said, jeopardised the livelihood of his staff and the reputation of the restaurant.

Agricultural and Fisheries officials seized 15 live lobsters from the Jolly Lobster restaurant at Mermaid Beach Hotel in Warwick after staff admitted they had forgotten to renew a licence.

Yesterday, hotel vice president Mr. Jon Feldman expressed his outrage at the fashion in which the officials swooped on the restaurant just before a particularly busy weekend.

"For a $53 licence -- a mere formality -- they came in on a Friday and seized the lobster, jeopardising the livelihood of all the employees and the reputation of the restaurant,'' he said. "It is a sad commentary on the way Bermuda seems to be evolving.'' And while Mr. Feldman admitted the restaurant had committed an oversight -- he accused the department of "grossly overreacting''.

"In the past a phone call or a simple warning would have been sufficient,'' he said. "Instead they took these draconian measures.'' He added that as far as he knew, such a raid had not happened before.

The Maine lobsters, which have been frozen as evidence, would have to be destroyed, he said, as they are no longer fit for consumption.

"Not only have I lost hundreds of dollars worth of lobster but I have lost business over the weekend,'' said Mr. Feldman who claimed the restaurant was "packed'' over the Mothers's Day weekend.

"People must have thought it was pretty weird that they couldn't order lobster from a lobster restaurant,'' he said.

Director of Agriculture and Fisheries Mr. John Barnes said they had been imported illegally and were being held as contraband.

A licence was required for the possession of live seafood from abroad. This, he said, was to prevent the introduction of a foreign organisms that could prove life threatening to indigenous species.