CHIRP report, floating lobster pot lines AHHHH

Zippysigma

Zippysigma

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The latest CHIRP report contained a report of someone asking for advice and then did not answer the question!

What can be done with dangerous, unmarked lobster pot lines?

I got caught up on one the other day off Sizewell - just a black line with 2" dia floats holding it nicely on the surface just waiting to wrap arround my keel/rudders/prop. Fortunately I was able to let go the sails and pull it off with a boathook, but I was unsure what I could have done....

Can I legally pull it up and sink the offending item? cut it free? take it aboard and dump when on shore?

suggestions please... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
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What can be done with dangerous, unmarked lobster pot lines?



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just a black line with 2" dia floats holding it

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Its was not unmarked, and yet you still ran into it, who was keeping the watch it may be time to get them some glasses /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

OK it may not have been the best of pot markers and there are plenty that I agree are very poorly marked but there has been no great increase in their numbers over the years, unlike the huse rise in the number of yachts now on the water.

Standing by for flak.
 
Picked up one myself 2 weeks ago just of Walton on the Naze .. My fault did not see it untill it was to late .. Difference was it was two small plastic bottles tied together with about 2m of line .. It slowed the boat down and we waited .. If he wants his pot back its about 1nm nearer Harwich than it was .. We sail out of the Deben and must admit most are marked quiet well .. SWMBO missed one by inches couple of weeks previous so why did i have to do that .. Will never live it down .. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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Can I legally pull it up and sink the offending item?

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No - criminal damage.

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cut it free?

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Only if it's your only way to proceed, if all other attempts have failed. You're probably condemning any occupants of the pots to a slow death by starvation though, if the fisherman can't lift the pots...

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take it aboard and dump when on shore?

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No, back to criminal damage again

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suggestions please... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

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Tolerance of those who make their megre living by fishing?
Report to harbourmaster if within port limits
The RYA are running an unmarked pots campaign, you could drop them a note.
 
There are clear guidelines for inshore fishermen on how their gear should be marked. Two 2" black balls does not come anywhere near it, and while the inshore fleet are having a very tough time with reducing quotas etc, losing gear because they failed to mark it adequately is very much their problem, not yours - once you have disentangled yourself!

A few years ago I found myself thoroughly entangled in a long net that had been stretched across the part of a popular Solent anchorage . The only marks were 2 six inch buoys about 150 feet apart. Everything else was under water

I had no qualms about trying to cut my way out of it, nor did the RNLI when I had to ask for assistance.
 
Couldn't agree more about cutting if you are entangled, but the OP seemed to suggest (or maybe it was my reading of it) that we should go round sinking such gear on sight, which I wouldn't agree with.

But ulitmately, yes, fishermen need to mark gear properly.
 
There are certain instances where gear should be removed i.e. in the middle of the Looe Channel - there are about 1/2 dozen very small ball floats there which get dragged under by the tide. I will not plan a pasage that involves the Looe Channel at night as this is not a place to get snared.
Its amazing how many pass by within about 5-6 feet of the cockpit even when keeping a good watch in known areas.
I have no sympathy for the fwits who think a small ball can be spotted when the tide is running or at night. Same situation near the Goodwin Fork as well.
 
Fishermen excel in "illegal" and actually enjoy the angst they cause. Cut first, and forget any thoughts of 'one way' morality.
 
[RANT ON]

Oh come on, cut the ropes and you'll leave the catch to die in the traps. You clearly don't ever talk to fishermen who work damned hard to make a living. This kind of post rates with the likes of 'all mobos are tossers'

[RANT OFF]
 
I thought that this might bring some polarised views on the subject /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I too have friends who were fishermen, but have been forced out of business as no longer profitable - they had the double whammy that 2nd hand boats/ gear is now nearly worthless as well!

I have also been brought to a dead stop at 2 am in mid channel having snagged an unmarked line with the only recourse to send someone over the side with a knife - Too dangerous for my liking /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Anyway, interesting to hear all views.
 
I encountered the Looe channel 3 years ago single-handed and couldn't believe that some t*sser had put pots there. It's irrelevant whether they were marked with milk cartons (as they were) or with 2 foot high buoys with LED marker lights. Not an isolated example as you hear lots of stories about that narrow and clearly buoyed channel.

As for 'open water' - if a fisherman cares so little about either his gear or other seafarers that he will use floating line marked with a tiny ball or half submerged milk cartons he does not get any sympathy for financial losses. Nets or pots properly marked are an example of a guy pursuing a bl**dy difficulty living in a professional manner. He gets my sympathy.
 
From experience, PROFESSIONAL fishermen mark their gear very well. Its the weekender or unlicenced fishermen that are most often to blame for marking their gear with things like plastic milk containers.

Give your local Sea Fisheries Committee a ring, they're the chaps who deal with the inshore sector on a local level. Unlicenced fishermen are a pain to everyone.

Please don't just cut the gear as not only will the pot contain trapped crabs and lobsters but it will keep on 'ghost fishing' for a number of years.
 
Dunno, but how's this for a corker last month? In the middle of a channel too...

2648808283_8360a9c8f3.jpg
 
In general I have sympathy with professional fishermen but those using bleach/milk bottles etc as floats aren't professionals, nor can the berk who owns the gear Shuggy photographed be professional. If he is, he deservers to lose his licence as well as his gear and catch.

These folk are more likely to be people making a bit on the side with no regard for anyone else.
 
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