The Ministry of the Environment is considering whether to allow commercial fishermen to catch lobsters inshore from next month.

It will decide within the next week whether to permit lobster pots within the reef line from September 1. The Marine Resources Board has discussed the move, which has prompted conservation concerns from recreational lobster divers.

One said yesterday: "As a collective group we are all very concerned. We've got nothing against commercial fishermen but we feel they are going about this the wrong way. It is going to wipe out the entire lobster population. We need to try and protect these creatures before they become a thing of the past."

A decision however, has yet to be made by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Dr. Tammy Trott, senior marine resources officer, told The Royal Gazette: "A proposal did go forward to the Board for the fishermen to bring their traps into the normal inshore areas from September 1. The Marine Resources Board did discuss it but there has been no final decision by the Department of Environmental Protection."

She said a decision will be made in the next week and that it will take into account Government figures. Commercial and recreational fishermen are required to submit their catch statistics for each fishing trip.

Recreational divers have to report their catches in a monthly report, detailing day, quantity, sex and area caught.

"We've been keeping statistics for years," said Dr. Trott.

A Government spokesman said yesterday: "A final decision has not been made on this issue."

Presently, commercial fishermen have to keep their pots outside the reef line but from December 1 to March 31 can bring six of their 11 pots inside.

They are not allowed to trap the lobsters in the North Shore Coral Reef Reserve with the exception of two inshore areas, east and west of the reserve.

Recreational lobster divers with permits are allowed to go anywhere up to the shoreline, excluding restricted areas such as the enclosed Harrington Sound and Castle Harbour, dive sites and other protected areas.

Between September 1 and March 31, they can take two lobsters a day noose diving no scuba. It is also illegal to spear lobsters.

Some recreational divers say that if commercial fishermen are allowed inside the reef from September, it could "deplete" Bermuda's spiny lobster population.

"They've already decimated the lobsters on the outside and now they will do the same to the ones on the inside," said one permit holder.

Another recreational diver, Stuart Joblin, said that on average permit-holders catch "ten a year", due to most working full-time jobs. "Our impact on the lobster population is small," he said. "I heard there was a Marine Resources Board meeting and this was brought up and approved. As a recreational lobster diver I think it is a bit disturbing.

"If this was discussed because the fishermen over the years have decimated them on the outside, then I think it's counter-productive to bring them into the only area which still has them."

Another lobster diver told The Royal Gazette: "This is causing an outrage to anyone who has any view to conserving Bermuda marine life. This action will decimate Bermuda's lobster population. It has been decreasing year by year and this will put the nail in the coffin for them."

Fisherman Andrew Marshall said: "I've always maintained they (lobster fishermen) have already decimated the population. Every year they keep changing the parameters when they get a bad catch."

However, another fishing enthusiast dismissed the conservation concerns as "scaremongering".