lobster pot night markers

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Sailingsaves

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Google didn't help.

Are there lights that are permissible to be placed upon lobster pots at night? What colour light and what frequency of flashes are they?

I bought a weird device for £1 at a boat jumble, cleaned it up and fixed it, googled it and it is a Japanese lobster pot marker apparently (or net marker etc) and pretty good too.

So what are the rules in UK? I know few mark their lobster bouys at night, but if they could, what is allowed?
 
Buy them out in the Med from most fishing boat chandlers. Cost about €5 - 10, most are activated by low light and flash fast when the battery is fresh, slower when old. Usually a cluster of LEDs, some of them are white, others red. No convention, just available. Too small and low powered to be confused with navigation marks. Quite a number of boats use them as anchor lights, seeing one hovering in the dark is a good clue that there's a boat there beneath it!
 
Right, thanks.
Yes, there should be some blooming rules about them; at least give fishermen the option of using something legal and recognised.
 
pvb said:
No, the scum who litter popular routes with unlit buoys deserve to be punished.
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Punished, and their boats seized, and auctioned for charity.

It should be as socially vilified as drink driving, concealing broken bottles on a public footpath, or stringing piano wire across a cycle lane at throat height.

Are they so incredibly stupid that they don't see the problem, or do they secretly think it's funny?
 
Bob Stay said:
Punished, and their boats seized, and auctioned for charity.

It should be as socially vilified as drink driving, concealing broken bottles on a public footpath, or stringing piano wire across a cycle lane at throat height.

Are they so incredibly stupid that they don't see the problem, or do they secretly think it's funny?
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No. Fishermen own the seas like taxi drivers own the roads...............least they think they do.
 
I don't share this level of animosity to inshore fishermen. Lobsters, crabs etc are fished in a sustainable manner, unlike much trawling, and the fishermen go to sea in rather small craft: they're not fat-cats by any means.

I do dislike floating rope, but properly laid pots are really not that dangerous to us: I sail at night very often and have very rarely, in fact only once in 30 years, got one entangled with my prop. The danger is over-stated, nobody dies (but plenty of fishermen do, theirs is a dangerous job). Besides I think we moan too much about the UK: try Portugal or Ireland!
 
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Just to say, I have no axe to grind with fishermen.

It appears they have no recognised light that they can show. Indeed, if they did show a light, would they not be in trouble for spreading 'illegal' lights?

Why a colour and frequency can't be attributed to pots and nets is the question.

The Japanese obviously have a light they are allowed to use (and I do not like what the Japanese to to whales).



jdc said:
I don't share this level of animosity to inshore fishermen. Lobsters, crabs etc are fished in a sustainable manner, unlike much trawling, and the fishermen go to sea in rather small craft: they're not fat-cats by any means.

I do dislike floating rope, but properly laid pots are really not that dangerous to us: I sail at night very often and have very rarely, in fact only once in 30 years, got one entangled with my prop. The danger is over-stated, nobody dies (but plenty of fishermen do, theirs is a dangerous job). Besides I think we moan too much about the UK: try Portugal or Ireland!
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jdc said:
I don't share this level of animosity to inshore fishermen. Lobsters, crabs etc are fished in a sustainable manner, unlike much trawling, and the fishermen go to sea in rather small craft: they're not fat-cats by any means.

I do dislike floating rope, but properly laid pots are really not that dangerous to us: I sail at night very often and have very rarely, in fact only once in 30 years, got one entangled with my prop. The danger is over-stated, nobody dies (but plenty of fishermen do, theirs is a dangerous job). Besides I think we moan too much about the UK: try Portugal or Ireland!
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You obviously live a charmed life, oblivious of the hazards the rest of us encounter thanks to these low-life idiots who call themselves "fishermen". I've posted this pic before, but here's the load of rubbish (including floating line) which I collected just by the inappropriately named "safe water mark" outside Sovereign Harbour. As the "fisherman" responsible was one of their residents, the marina had the grace to lift my boat for free to check for damage.

sovereign.jpg
 
Part of the reason why this problem has become more noticeable is the change in yacht design. With my long keel I have frequently run very close to pot markers at night, and never had a problem.
Different story with a fin,P bracket and spade rudder.
Not that that excuses the idiots who put their pots in fairways and use floating rope---- these are likely to be part timers who don't kive a sh it
 
No Rules, but I've seen guidance issued by MCA (Borders Agency) There is no option for lights.

Anyone can lay up to 5 pots (think its 5)

If you use a commercial port you may request a pot be removed. It will be if it is badly sited.
 
Spanish longliners use a large buff, or dahnfender, which has a socket in the top for a winky light, I have a couple picked up drifting. Anything used in open water would have to be pressure proof as the gear often goes to the bottom in tide.
 
Bob Stay said:
Punished, and their boats seized, and auctioned for charity.

It should be as socially vilified as drink driving, concealing broken bottles on a public footpath, or stringing piano wire across a cycle lane at throat height.

Are they so incredibly stupid that they don't see the problem, or do they secretly think it's funny?
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+ 1 !

They already have the option of various lights such as the lightsticks offshore fishermen - and the military - use, easily available from Amazon or even Millets !

Even a bit of a bamboo cane or stick as a danbuoy with reflective tape would help a lot, but the mindless scum don't care their contraption may pin a small boat with a family aboard stern on to big seas.

There is a line of dark blue pot markers - small 500ml old white spirit cans or similar - on the direct line from Chichester beacon to the Dolphin passage off Southsea - this could easily be taken as a hostile act, certainly no enemy skipper could think of a better place to lay mines if at war !

I'm told by a proper pro' fisherman that these lethal traps, also in vital and dangerous places like Selsey & Portland Inshore Passage etc are usually laid by weekend amateurs out to get a few quid for lobsters from their chums running pubs; for a start maybe we, when ordering lobster, ought to ask where it's from, in the same way there's ' Dolphin Friendly Tuna ' there ought to be Boat Friendly Lobster '.

I have no hesitation applying long handled pruning loppers, some have a serrated blade on the outer edge which seems useful; just harness -clip yourself on before doing it or you might become another casualty to this criminally dangerous pot laying.

Incidentally a good chum was a coastal lobster fisherman most of his life - also inshore & offshore lifeboat crew - and has now taken up sailing with gusto, he has a good boat and nothing stops him getting out on her; his comments about the types who lay pot ' traps ' in dangerous places are unprintable here ! :)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spear-Jack...ds=long+handled+pruning+loppers+serrated+edge
 
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