Lime Bay mussel farms

[Captn D]

Heard from the BBC today that extensive mussel farms have been laid and will be extended over a major part of Lime Bay. Although these will be properly marked on up to date charts and correctly buoyed, they will undoubtably prove a nuisance and possible hazard to any one sailing in the area and could prove a major problem to anyone who accidentally enters one. The local RNLI was quoted as saying that entering one to effect a rescue would present a major challenge! What are your thoughts?

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

https://www.devonlive.com/news/business/mega-mussel-farm-size-heathrow-518969

Looks like the whole area will be 'infested' with some kind of marker buoys

Edit:

Locations here - https://www.offshoreshellfish.com/download/5c2adc78-113a-11e6-b9b9-2987c49563c0/

One small mercy is that they are off the rhum line if crossing from Portland Bill to, say, Dartmouth

 

[Fenders]

On a trip from Brixham to Lyme Regis in July we passed one ESE of Exmouth. It was well marked but did seem larger than I would have expected.

 

[Captn D]

Reports state they are planned to cover over 15 sq Km in total. There already appears to be problems:-
https://www.axeyachtclub.co.uk/notices-to-mariners/ayc-local-notice-to-mariners-0032016

 

[Sandy]

As somebody who sails regularly in Lyme Bay; it s big place so avoiding them will be easy. It will be well marked unlike the pots that might or might not have a scrap of material (usually black) marking them.

 

[Corribee Boy]

It's hard to not see the hundreds of rows of supporting buoys, even if you miss the special marks at the limits of the farm. However the buoys are black, so could be a problem at night.

 

[Dull Spark]

We recently sailed past the existing mussel farm south of Sidmouth. It is like a large forest of buoys, all black and about the size of a fender. The farm size is about one mile by one and a half. There are special yellow buoys marking the limits, but I'd hate to go near in poor light. By the way, the one we passed was on a direct line from Teignmouth to Lyme Regis. A yacht sailing south of us on about that course made a major last-minute alteration. That was in broad daylight.

I will treat mussel farms as low profile islands. There seemed to be no prospect of threading a way through. So if you snag a pot buoy outside a mussel farm, you may well be on a "lee shore".

 

[Seven Spades]

I seems to me that sites 2 and 3 are unlikely to present much of a problem to yachtsmen but site 1 is a dam nuisance.

 

[mainsail1]

I wonder what the legal position is on blocking a vessel's right of free passage across a chunk of ocean?

 

[longjohnsilver]

We recently sailed past the existing mussel farm south of Sidmouth. It is like a large forest of buoys, all black and about the size of a fender. The farm size is about one mile by one and a half. There are special yellow buoys marking the limits, but I'd hate to go near in poor light. By the way, the one we passed was on a direct line from Teignmouth to Lyme Regis. A yacht sailing south of us on about that course made a major last-minute alteration. That was in broad daylight.

I will treat mussel farms as low profile islands. There seemed to be no prospect of threading a way through. So if you snag a pot buoy outside a mussel farm, you may well be on a "lee shore".

Agree with all that, it is well marked, but if you stray into it there are lots of floating ropes that only become obvious when you are almost upon them. I will hopefully be passing it tomorrow, will be interesting to see how much it’s expanded from this time last year.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Agree with all that, it is well marked, but if you stray into it there are lots of floating ropes that only become obvious when you are almost upon them. I will hopefully be passing it tomorrow, will be interesting to see how much it’s expanded from this time last year.

Well, we passed the vastly expanded farms yesterday morning, and then I steered our way through the middle of the original field on the way back. It’s a huge area!

I most certainly would not countenance passing through at night or in bad conditions, there are quite a few rogue buoys either partly submerged or out of position. It certainly makes transiting a large part of the bay interesting. I assume extra buoyage will be put in place before long.

 

[mainsail1]

I wonder who gave them permission to put such a large obstruction in the water? Sounds ridiculous to me.

 

[Sandy]

I wonder who gave them permission to put such a large obstruction in the water? Sounds ridiculous to me.

Why? I need to visit France to get any decent mussles!

Until recently scallop fishing was ripping up the seabed and some very rare cold water corals were being smashed to bits.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

We have similar schemes in Scotland and they are very large and you can't navigate through them. Lots of buoys and some block the straightforward approach to an anchorage. All are close to shore, so not really an issue on passage. The main issue for me is that they are not lit at night, yellow buoys mark the extents of the farm. Recent experience is from Loch Spelve on Mull. They are less sightly than salmon farms and take up about the same room. It is vital to have up to date charts / plotters because night sailing into one of these unlit ones, say when beating to windward, is a distinct risk.

 

[rotrax]

We have similar schemes in Scotland and they are very large and you can't navigate through them. Lots of buoys and some block the straightforward approach to an anchorage. All are close to shore so not really an issue on passage. The main issue for me is that they are not lit at night. Unlit, yellow buoys mark the extents of the farm. Recent experience is from Loch Spelve on Mull. They are less slightly that salmon farms and take up about the same room. It is vital to have up to date charts / plotters because night sailing into one of these unlit ones, say when beating to windward, is a distinct risk.

There are extensive mussel farms in NZ. IIRC, some have solar powered marker buoys with led lights for night visibility.

The harvesting barges are interesting-and fishing just downstream of one while it is harvesting is a certain way to catch lots of Snapper.

If they prove to be a hazard to navigation, no doubt they will be clearly marked.