Bl**dy Lobster Pots !!

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putting badly marked pots down is still very very Bl**dy stupid - end of !!!

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I certainly agree and that something should be done about these marker floats, however that 'something' should not be a random cutting of them by vigilantes (much as I have been tempted in the past).

Tom
 
I don't think we will get very far with the "somebody ought to do something" contingent. I said when I first mentioned it, that cutting offending markers was not universally popular with all here.
However each time it is raised, direct action seems to get more support. Probably best to keep on snippiing and leave others to do whatever they feel will help with the problem.
Off to sharpen my old breadknife!
Regards mikej
 
We have always been amazed at how carelessly these things are just strewn across busy routes used by yachts and motor boats between ports. Like most real problems this is not high profile enough to get the attention it needs at high level.
Sadly until someone loses there life through the lack of consideration for other boat owners and lack of interest from the authorities,regulation will then swiftly follow i m sure.
Whatever happened to the duty of care we read about so much in the work place ashore?
I have every respect for the real professional fisherman and anyone else that takes pride in there job and considers fellow mariners.
I have in the past as a scuba diver helped recover a snagged pot off Kimmeridge bay,properly marked dare i say.
As far as badly laid and marked pots they should be removed and discarded ,having had my shaft nearly ripped out of my boat off St Albans head a couple of years back i feel these morons that put life at risk need legislation.
Then i m sure they will moan about the needless regulation imposed on them !
Sadly the professional will be heaped in with them too and suffer as a result,so come on guys its in your interest too !!
 
The issue with cutting the float off and letting the gear sink is that the crabs/lobsters in the post eventually die, attracting more to the pot, which eventually die, attarcting more....so a great deal of food is wasted.
 
Can I make a comparison here. If I anchor overnight and fail to display an anchor light as required under regulation, then besides breaking the Law, would my boat not be considered a hazard to navigation ? Of course it would. Therefore should not the same apply to lobster pot floats which are not illuminated by night & often hardly visible by day ?
 
No because as has been frequently posted there is no legal requirements to have these pots marked in any particular way or lit - other than any local byelaw, usually as part of the fishing permit.

W.
 
Think you'll find that on a dark night a black marker buoy will be more visible than even a light coloured one. That's what I find anyway. Was given a scientific explanation once but have forgotten it.

I still don't dare travel at more than about 12kts, at night, off the S.Devon coast.
 
Requirements for marking fishing gear
Only applies to community waters outside territorial waters.
In a recent survey of (professional) fishermen one point kept coming up, frustration with part-time fishermen. They set gear, usually on easily reachable patches of ground, then sit there for ever. I have left when catches are not viable, but they stay and keep the ground completely denuded of fish (meaning shellfish). As they have alternative sources of income they can afford to do this. They also seem in many cases to be outside the rafts of legislation applied to the likes of me. I'm afraid I don't make too much effort avoiding their markers if they have, as usual, six buoys, with floating rope between, on both ends of a string of only five pots. Gear was rigged that way many years ago when the rope was heavy sisal and efforts were made to keep it up, it's not necessary now, but they won't splash out for leaded rope, or make any effort to sink ropes.
It's difficult to make gear markers safe for everyone. Yesterday I cut the 12mm rope off a buff (dahnfender) and replaced it with 8mm leaded as is my custom, in the hope that anyone getting caught will soon break free. Use of a weight several fathoms down can be effective, you will usually brush the buff aside without the rope getting into anything. If I were to use a dahn, (stick with flag) as well it needs the buff to keep it up, so two targets with a rope between. Bit of a dilemma.
I have several times on here recommended you carry long handled pruning shears to reach and cut what's in your prop, and notice someone else posting to that effect. Not expensive, keep them in a ? greased rag in plastic.

Ill repeat the method for a fouled prop mooring you stern to the tide. You need a good length of rope with a piece of chain in the middle. Let the chain run down the offending rope, take the ends either side to the bow and bring together. The chain pinches the rope, and with sufficient length you can haul you boat round to stem the tide. The fishing rope will now stream astern slack, and you can at least hoick it up to cut it and get free.

Incidentally, I always have several small grapnels/ropes with hooks on for general use, sending stuff down off the quay, snagging anything outside the reach of gaff or boathook, this is what you need to get that rope up from under your stern to cut it. I would not go to work without them. I commend the idea to the house.
 
Just cut the lines when you see one. They will soon learn to put a decent marker on them.Why can't they put the little lights like the ones in our lifejackets on them. The last one i snagged on a night passage caused repair bills over £1000. Also the ones with nets running between the buoys should be colour coded.
 
Some idiotic posts above from people who have clearly bought into the modern belief that no one has any responsibilities any more.

We all have responsibilities not to imperil each other; a 'duty of care' if you will. Badly marked pots are an unnecessary hazard. The worst (marked with pop bottles and the like, and set in marked channels) indicate a lack of concern for those who go to sea bordering on the gratuitous.

Every year more and more yachts and motor boats get damaged, and more and more people are put in some sort of danger or other. In the absence of legislation (and fark knows this worthless 'government' loves legislating), I have no problem with sorting the problem out in a very practical way.
 
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