defying Government's fish pot ban.

That was the claim yesterday as the rebel fisherman launched the latest round in his battle against the ban.

In January, Mr. Farias lost a Supreme Court appeal against his 1991 Magistrates' Court conviction, which carried $2,000 in fines.

Yesterday his lawyer Mr. Arthur Hodgson began fighting in the Appeal Court.

He attacked a finding by the magistrate, the Wor. John Judge, that Mr. Farias had "admitted'' having freshly caught lobsters in his boat, taken by one or more of the fish pots he had aboard.

Mr. Judge ruled that this admission was enough to dispose of the case, and found Mr. Farias guilty of possessing and using fish pots off the North Shore.

But Mr. Hodgson told the three Appeal Court judges the reference to lobsters was an "obvious error'' which had "stunned'' Mr. Farias.

"It was absolutely astounding -- a complete invention,'' said Mr. Hodgson.

"At no point did Mr. Farias say that lobsters were on the boat.'' In the Supreme Court appeal Mr. Farias had tried to set the record straight and point out that there were no lobsters on the boat.

But Chief Justice the Hon. Sir James Astwood had rejected the correction, said Mr. Hodgson.

"His finding is based on evidence that was pure invention by the learned magistrate,'' he added. "If the court invents evidence it becomes positively sinister, and suicidal to the court's integrity.'' In the orginal case, lobsters had not been an issue. But now they were the most important issue.

The appeal was adjourned until the Appeal Court's next session in March, but Mr. Hodgson outlined other arguments he would use.

He said the pots in Mr. Farias' boat when he was caught on May 16, 1990 were not fish pots in the legal sense, because they were being used in a demonstration against the ban.

"You can't call an item that is being used for publicity a fish pot,'' said Mr. Hodgson. If anything, they were "publicity pots''.

The pots were not being used for catching fish and were therefore not banned.

"They were not even capable of being used, because they were de-activated,'' he said.

Mr. Hodgson added that any attempt to deprive Mr. Farias of his pots was against the Constitution.

Minister of the Environment the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto had gone against natural justice and beyond her powers.

And the punishment imposed on the fisherman was excessive, he said.

"Government hammered him with criminal charges in order to enforce a policy.'' Mr. Hodgson said Mr. Farias had received no compensation under the Government's pot ban plan, despite "begging''. This was disputed by Solicitor General Mr. Barrie Meade, for Fisheries.

The Minister banned fish pots in April, 1990 in an effort to halt a drastic decline in reef fish. In this month's Throne Speech, Government defended the ban and said fish stocks were showing a "marked improvement''.