waters off Bermuda, to hand over their fishing licences.

The crewmen were accused of fishing inside Bermuda's 75-mile exclusion zone.

The ships, working for a Japanese firm, received licences on condition they heeded the ban.

Last month Bermuda's fisheries officials launched a probe into complaints of the alleged intrusion by Chen Yuan No. 3 and Fuh Sheng No. 302 .

It had been alleged the ships pulled in half-a-million dollar catches off the Island, getting as close as 25 miles offshore.

Yesterday Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto said details of the ship's movements had now been scrutinised.

She had no choice but to "immediately demand surrender'' of the ships' fishing licences.

Mrs. DeCouto said the vessels had been told to leave the exclusion zone, and not return.

She added the incident would influence future rulings by Government on applications by foreign vessels to fish off Bermuda.

Last month Government denied knowing of any violations by the Taiwanese.

Fisheries director Mr. John Barnes said the 75-mile zone covered 17,000 square miles of ocean and Bermuda had no realistic way of knowing if ships intruded.