But the bait was not the concoction of a big multi-national but the product of the Oceanarium in small west Wales town of St David's.

Oceanarium spokesman Gary Cross

Six years ago, scientists there noticed that while feeding, their fish were only attracted to certain smells and they set about trying to pinpoint the chemicals responsible.

The special paste of a piece of lint is made up of specific chemicals.

"After thousands of experiments we hit upon it and once we knew what it was, we could then look through the literature and realise that it wasthere all the time, staring everyone in the face," said Oceanarium spokesman Gary Cross.

"The Americans have spent millions trying to find out and so have the Norwegians but fortunately because we were so close to fish, we had a little head start you might say."

Staff at the Oceanarium are now busy developing it as a commercial product, which they believe has huge potential.

Most fishing is currently done by trawling but because it damages the ocean bed and catches fish which cannot be sold on, regulations could force companies to revert to line and hook methods.