There was a "drastic decrease'' in the number of reef fish caught by commercial fishermen last year -- the first full year to see the absence of fish pots.

Fisheries Department Catch and Effort Statistics for 1991 also showed a slight six percent decline in the overall fish catch with a total of 937,887 pounds of fish caught by fishermen last year.

Agriculture and Fisheries director Mr. John Barnes said the decrease in reef fish landings was proof Government's controversial fish pot ban, which went into effect in April 1990, is working.

He said the ban had been designed to preserve and protect reef fishes which were increasingly being caught with fish pots as grouper and snapper stocks were being fished out.

"Fishermen began adding other species of fish to feed a growing demand, eventually going after the parrotfish,'' he said.

Mr. Barnes added that apart from making the Island's coral reefs an attraction for snorkellers and glass bottom boats, reef fish help keep the corals alive and in good condition by eating algae on them.

Before the ban up to 150,000 pounds of colourful reef fish was being hauled out of Bermuda's waters annually, the report showed. In 1991 that amount dropped by 37 percent to 88,622 pounds a year.

However, the report shows that reef fish such as parrotfish were not even caught in 1975 and no more than 50,000 pounds a year was being caught in the early 1980s.

The statistics were gathered from forms filled out daily by the 149 fishing vessel owners who submit them. There are 272 registered commercial fishermen in Bermuda.

The largest drop noted was in landings of parrotfish, which in the years before the fish pot ban were the single largest group taken by pot fishermen.

Significant declines in landings were also noted for grunts and squirrelfish.

Mr. Barnes said the decline in reef fish landings reflects a shift into types of fishing other than by fish pots. The report showed most fishermen had gone back to the traditional fishing methods of hook-and-line and net fishing.

Those fishing methods, he said, do not lend themselves to the capture of reef fish which are primarily herbivorous fishes.

Although the overall fish catch declined, the report showed increases in the landings of red hinds, coneys, bonitos, blue runner, jacks and silk and queen snappers.

The report showed that of the larger grouper species taken from the reef platform, only black rockfish and monkey rockfish were taken in any numbers, "thereby reinforcing the premises that the stocks of grouper were severely stressed''.

Landings of pelagics in 1991 were marginally lower (four percent) than the previous years.

Statistics showed catches of wahoo declined slightly from 1990 but remained above all other years, "thereby confirming the importance of this species of food fish''.

The reported landings of yellowfin tuna showed an upward swing while blackfin tuna landings declined considerably and barracuda and shark remained stable.

The report noted, however, the increase in shark catches was probably due to its improved market value and not increased abundance.

More than 4,700 spiny lobsters were caught in the periods January through March and October -- when the experimental commercial lobster fishery was established -- through December 1991.

Vessels reporting also indicated more time spent in active fishing (some 83,000 hours at sea compared to nearly 75,000 in 1990) and less time in gear construction, maintenance and marketing.

COMPARISON OF LANDINGS (IN POUNDS) OF VARIOUS REEF FISH SPECIES 1990 1991 (%) Porgy 30,015 22,116 -26 Chub 19,609 15,455 -21 Hogfish 8,362 434 -95 Parrotfish 22,934 1,324 -94 Grunts 13,160 4,763 -64 Turbot 30,035 28,035 -7 Bream/pinfish 7,733 13,796 78 Squirrelfish 1,698 399 -76 Other 6,939 2,090 -70 Moray 384 210 -45.