Floating fishing lines?

[pugwash]

Heading for Mevagisseyjust on sunset the other day, I turned in about a mile east of the entrance and saw a small fishing vessel between me and the port. As it was to port of me I had to give way and was steering towards its stern when I realized a crew man was rapidly paying out either a line or a net which was supported on the surface by a series of buoys (actually, they looked more like fenders). The vessel had no marks, the end of the floating line had no marks. While trying to work out how far the line stretched I saw the vessel stop. The end of the line was thrown over, again no mark, and the vessel sped off so my way was now clear. However, as I approached the port and looked back, down-sun, I saw a whole series of these floating lines bobbing on the surface in parallel, must have been a dozen of them 100 yards long and only a few yards apart. Imagine hitting that lot! I didn't go ashore in Mevagissey so got no chance to talk with any fishermen, and next morning the floating lines were gone.

What's going on here? Surely it's not legal to cast floating lines -- unlit and unmarked -- on the surface. I couldn't imagine a bigger hazard. Or is there something I ought to know?

 

[iangrant]

Drift netting I would bet - illegal and nasty - you should have informed the Coast Guard.

Ian

 

[pugwash]

Wondered about that but couldn't believe something so illegal would be done in such a busy spot (smack on the course between Fowey and the Dodman) and on such a big scale.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Last time I was in M.. I saw loads of blue polyprop lines being made up. They were adding to these lines beads of lead on another thin line, which was being wound round the main lines., so that they would sink. were they making up drift nets????

I think next time you should call the coastguard

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Chris_Robb on 29/08/2002 15:29 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

If perchance you should ever sail from Chichester to Brighton, you will have to stay well off-shore to avoid the pots, nets, long-lines and various other paraphenalia that fisherman have devised to snare the unsuspecting fish !!!! I had a hairy trip through the night delivering a boat I sold to its new mooring because of the above ...... I will NEVER ever do that leg again at night !!!!

 

[pugwash]

So did you see lines actually lying on the surface, threaded between floats? I guess it's legal to set longlines on snoods (ie, if that's the name for the riser line that connects the float on the surface to the net floating below) but is there a minimum legal depth?

 

[pugwash]

Ian and Chris -- Took your advice and phoned the HMCG. Falmouth said it sounded dangerous and yes I should certainly report it but I had to phone Brixham which covers that area. So I did so and was told that this was gill-netting and perfectly legal. "Even if unlit and unmarked?" I asked. Answer: "I suppose so."

 

[CliveG]

If you go ashore at Mevagissey you will find large plastic boxes (4' x 3' x 3') on the harbour side full of lightweight monofilament netting with blue poly rope and green floats attached.
If these were for an illegal use one would expect them to be kept hidden.

We had a hairy moment with a floating rope the other week of Prawle Point whilst on passage from Dartmouth to Salcombe under power (Due to lack of wind) in restricted visability (mist/fog).

We had spotted a few pot markers as we made our way along our GPS route.

Our lookout pointed out another pot marker to starboard and we changed course to pass 2 or 3 boat lengths clear of it. She then shouted out “rope ahead”.
Laying across our course about a boat length ahead was a 1” dia. rope floating out from the buoy. There must have been 50 to 60 feet of rope on the surface.

We were doing about 4.5 knots. We put the engine into neutral and ran the rope over.
Foutunatly the keel pushed the rope down and the prop was clear before the rope floated up again.

The tide was about 2hrs after low water wit about 3 to 4 m to rise.

There should be some requirement for pot marker rope to sink straight down to at least 3 to 4 m with some kind of weight.

Some people we know got a rope round the prop on their Taga power boat in the same area a few weeks earlier.

Clive G

 

[Guest]

you often see pot buoys just below the surface, with no pole to mark where they are. its surprising that no one has ever tried to sue a fisherman for leaving unmarked hazards where boats could pass. couldnt do it on the roads, so why can they get away with it at sea?

suppose the answer is indifference. when Robin Sjoberg of the RYA tried to get together anecdotal evidence for an approach to govt, he got almost nil response from yachtsmen.

 

[Cornishman]

From your initial description you were some way off the line from Cannis to the Dodman, but this does not excuse the ignorance of the fisherman but starting legal proceedings will be a lot more difficult tahn you imagine. Firstly, you would have to identify the vessel concerned. Then you would have to persuade a lawyer to take on your case.
I often found in Mevagissey that many of the fishermen were from Plymouth staying overnight. Many of them are not 'proper' as I think I have said here before. What they do is of little concern to them as they have a great disdain for yotties. The true fishermen are quite the opposite.

 

[Guest]

The offending lines etc were in parrellel sets and where long-lines ... yes below surface and floats at intervals. But at various points inbetween and separate were floating lines, as well as a few markers with lines apparently streaming off to what appeared nothing !

The point of the matter was that most were poorly marked, you couldn't see any clear way through, lines were floating on surface, lines were submerged just below surface, other places had nets suspended just below surface ......... as I said earlier .. it wasa a harrowing experience and one I do not wish to repeat ....

 

[peterb]

Pull 'em up and cut them.

Some years ago we caught about a hundred feet of net on our rudder. Managed to get it off, but headed into Hartlepool Marina to get rid of it. Chap off a Fishery Protection vessel came by and said "You can probably blame us for that. It's an illegal mesh size, and was probably abandoned when we got near.

Just a thought, though. Can you claim salvage on recovered fishing gear?