Police divers recovered this illegal fishing pot yesterday during a training exercise off Morgan?s Point, in the Great Sound.

And they warned that the large, plastic-coated wire trap would cause terrible damage to Bermuda?s marine life.

The arrowhead pot was pulled out of the water by Police frogmen P.c. Chris Taggett, Sgt. Stephen Gunn and P.c. Robin Dyer.

P.c. Taggett, part of the Police underwater search and recovery team, said: ?These things are very destructive and people who use them are doing it illegally. They were banned years ago.?

He said that fish trapped inside would create a ?vicious circle?, because when they died they would become bait for other marine life to get caught.

?If the pot got lost it would have taken years and years for the sea to erode it and for the trap to rot,? added P.c. Taggett.

The divers yesterday found an angel fish and codfish inside the trap, which was hidden under a pier. It was relatively clean, so Police believe it may not have been in the ocean a long time.

P.c. Taggett said fish pots were banned about ten years ago because of the destructive impact on the Island?s reef life.