fishing near Bermuda.

The Eastpack II and the Flying Dart left St. George's yesterday afternoon, after their captains received written assurances from Canada that the boats would not be seized, nor their crews arrested.

There was no promise from the Canadian Department of Fisheries, however, that illegal fishing charges would not be laid.

The third longliner, the Renee and Trevor , was expected to leave soon. Canada ordered the ships home because swordfish and blue-finned tuna they caught near Bermuda came out of the Canadian quota under the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, a Canadian DOF official told The Royal Gazette .

Under a management plan agreed to with fishermen, Canadians were not to start fishing for swordfish and blue-finned tuna until summer, said Mr. John Angel, the DOF's regional fisheries director in Halifax.

There were complaints when the 70 Canadian swordfish fishermen and 650 blue-finned tuna fishermen learned of the Canadians in Bermuda, he said. While observers believed Canada was being "a bit harsh, we are trying to get four or five boats in line in the interests of another 600 to 700,'' he said.

Last week, the Canadian longliner Stephen B was boarded and seized about 250 miles north of Bermuda. Her captain faces illegal fishing charges in Halifax.

Mr. Angel would not say whether the captains of the Eastpack II or Renee and Trevor would be charged when they arrived in Nova Scotia.

"I'm not prepared to enter into that kind of dialouge,'' until the boats returned, he said. "The longer they refuse to go home...the more difficult it will be on them.'' As for the Flying Dart , a recent Canadian arrival in Bermuda, "my understanding is that she hasn't fished,'' Mr. Angel said. "Certainly, if she hasn't fished I have no quarrel with her.'' The Canadians would never have entered Bermuda's 200-mile zone to arrest the renegade ships, he added.

Earlier, Bermuda had refused a request from the Canadians to alter the licences of the longliners so they could not take swordfish or tuna. Mr. Angel said the decision was entirely up to Bermuda, and Canada was not angry over the refusal.

Meanwhile, Canadian Fisheries Minister the Hon. Brian Tobin declined through an official to meet with Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons over the fishing dispute. But a meeting of Government officials from the two countries is expected in May.

In refusing to alter the fishing licences, Mr. Simons had cited concerns the Canadians who paid for them would seek damages from the Bermuda Government.

"I very much regret that an agreement that we entered into in good faith with the Canadian fishermen should have ended in this fashion,'' Mr. Simons said yesterday.

The fish the Canadians caught here accounted for less than one percent of the Canadian ICCAT quota, he added. And Canada did not even meet its quota last year.

As well as protecting Bermuda's 200-mile exclusion zone, licensing the Canadians had provided valuable data to the Department of Fisheries and training for Bermudians interested in longlining, he said.