Fishing float, local fiesta, or what?

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We walked around Puerto Colom (Mallorca) this afternoon and came across several tiny fishing boats with strange float things on board, and on the dockside. These floats are constructed from a foam fin (clearly offcuts of boat, surfboard, etc.) with fresh green branches from shrubs tied on top. Unfortunately there were no people I could ask and being curious, I took some photos. Can anyone suggest what they might be?

Our best guesses are fishing floats (but why the shrubs?) or a local fiesta, dropping flowers at sea.

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don't suppose you could resize them.............

re the floats I suspect they are designed as floating rafts to imitate the patches of weeds and wood that occur naturally. Small eco systems quickly develop beneath them (days) and attrack fairly large predators...........which are then fished for with lures.
 
Sorry about the size and thanks for your input. It's not very convenient to resize them as I am at anchor, using my nav laptop that does not have my usual photo software (Photoshop) and a very iffy wifi connection, as we swing.

I wondered about them being some sort of lure but these are all seagoing boats...you don't see much floating wood, etc. on the surface of the Med. Besides, where would they tether them? They would need to be marked...the boat traffic around here is incredibly high, with fast ribs, jetskis, and larger fast craft. I can't imagine they'd leave them unattended over a period of days. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else, this is a one-off (in my experience, anyway).
 
North Mallorca - August, last year - came across dozens of these out at sea - not too sure what they actually represent but it is a religious festival , god botherers do some kind of ritual and then the guys on the fishing boats chuck these efigies (?) into the water.
Probably left over from pre -christian times.

thanks to colmce for the picture resizer site.
 
Whoops - sorry :

" ephigies " (?)

and thanks again for that latest link - spell checking in IE has always been a problem for me......
 
That makes sense - we saw similar things in Bayonna last year but the stuff they threw into the water consisted of flowers and virgins(!) neither of which are a grave risk to traffic. A waterskier or jetskier could be badly hurt by one of these things...they are quite large and heavy.
 
Don't you start. We all make spelling mistakes. I just can't abide the glorification of sloppy spelling and grammar.
(Newscasters are becoming leaders in this field) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Thanks, well done. I have tried to edit out my large photos so that it does not cause browsers to expand but unfortunately there is a time limit on edit and it has now timed out. Seems that the IT stuff has generated more interest that the actual subject! But I suppose you'd expect that on a BB.
 
Does that matter? These floats are made from poly foam and wood - they are virtually indestructible. In due course they will wash inshore. The locals round here (on Navtex) get their knickers in a twist when a small inflatable goes AWOL, and in a sense that is far less harmful than these floats. But in any case, for high speed craft these things are a menace, aren't they?

I don't have any fast mobo experience myself but always believed that the biggest fear of mobo drivers is hitting things? It sounds pretty bizarre to me.
 
Just re-name delete them server side and the forum will just show red x's.
The thread is too hard to read, shame, it could be interesting too..
 
This page has got so wide I couldn't find the "reply" box!

I am pretty sure the objects in question are fishing markers. A couple of years ago, I was working of the shore of North West Africa and we saw many markers similar to these when we were closer to shore. You will notice that the boats are fitted with net haulers. I would guess they are free-floating gill-nets.
 
They are fishing floats.

Over here they have been used for centuries at this time of the year during what we call 'the Lampuki season'. Nowadays many countries are adopting similar techniques.

They consist of (in Malta) a stone building slab that is used as a sinker, a length of 6mm polypropylene line of such a length as is necessary for the depth at the intended location, a sizeable swivel, a bunch of 4 or 5 palm fronds, followed by a float. The float is usually a sack filled with slabs of expanded polystyrene. The palm fronds are soaked in seawater for several days so that their buoyancy is reduced; they are tied at a depth of 3 metres below the float.

The Lampuka (Maltese name for Coryphaena Hippurus) is also known as Dorado and even as Dolphin (fish, not the mammal - porpoise). It is a national speciality and the local fishing season extends from mid-August till late November.

It is a predatory fish that migrates through the Mediterranean, possibly to mate in the Ionian. It enters and leaves the Med through the straits of Gibraltar after passing round Malta from this time of the year onwards.

The palm fronds serve as zones of shade for the fish to shelter from the rays of the sun while waiting for their prey to pass. Most commonly found in their stomachs are squid, and these are swallowed whole. Professional fishermen are allocated areas where to lay out these lines of floats. The point at which each line starts and the direction inwhich it has to be laid are established by the fisheries department and are published as Notice to Mariners.

The 'professionals' pass along their line while pulling a trolling line. When they get a bite they will know that there are fish around a particular float. If they decide that the school is large enough they will then encircle the float with a net and haul it in before proceeding to the next float. This is repeated every couple of days, so long as it remains worth their while.

Officially it is prohibited to fish within 100metres of these lines. The pros don't really mind boats that pass by their line of floats and trolling - as long as they keep on going! Should someone try to use 'professional' means, e.g. a net, then there is the very real risk of trouble. Most fishermen in the mediterranean are well armed and well prepared to protect their livelihood.

Should you be sailing in the vicinity of Malta, be aware that these lines of floats start at around 4 miles offshore and continue (usually in a SW-NE orientation) for miles. From a float one can just about make out the next one; it is common to have over 200 floats in a line!

The Lampuka is a beautiful fish, arguably the most spectacular colours. It is a very sporting fighter and the acrobatics that it performs when hooked and starts to 'dance' on its tail are, once seen, not easily forgotten. The record for a rod-caught Lampuka is around 47kilos and was hooked (I believe) somewhere near Florida.

Some say that it is delicious if freshly grilled while others argue that it is too beautiful an animal to kill.
 
Many thanks for your full and fascinating reply. We will keep a good watch out for interest as well as collision avoidance.
 
I did not expect that!

I thought it would delete and shrink down to size again. but it has kept the
original image dimensions. My this software is rubbish! ;P

hmmm.
 
Do you mean this? Sept 2005 Majorca
float.jpg


Thought they might be drugs the first time we saw one.
No such luck /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Interesting...what is that green floating line attached to? It doesn't sound quite like the scheme that the poster in Malta explained in great detail, or does it from what you saw?
 
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