Rigger Mortice
N/A
If you were to remove unmarked fishing gear which was a danger to boat users then you would have a very strong defence if anyone was daft enough to try doing you for either theft or criminal damage.
Lobster Pots !!
- Thread starter Budgieboy
- Start date
If you were to remove unmarked fishing gear which was a danger to boat users then you would have a very strong defence if anyone was daft enough to try doing you for either theft or criminal damage.
Sandyman
Well-Known Member
Lots of times and not just pots.
Had a Polish chap in here for a week on his long keel yacht Varsim. Got himself stuck at night in a Tunny Net.
Fisherman told him to stay put til morn and they would come & tow him out. Fishingboat arrived & put a tow
on his bow but couldn't pull him out, then tried a stern tow again without success. Another fishingboat arrived.
One towed from stern the other from the bows. Unfortunately, probably due to bad comms, they both then
towed in the opposite direction resulting in both pushpit & pullpit being ripped off as well as two cleats &
two fairleads ripped out. His GPS aerial was also damaged when the cable was cut.
I spent 4 hours re-wiring it for him to no avail. He relied solely on GPS with no charts onboard.
Set off for Caiscais this morning to find a Raymarine dealer.
jac
Well-Known Member
Marking properly does make a difference. Down here, the commercial stuff is either a few fishermen or the big boys though. The big ship channels are not fished (I assume that 20m deep channels that are dredged are not that hospitable)
jac
Well-Known Member
Theft would be hard to prove. I'm not a lawyer but I believe you have to have the intention to permanently deprive the owner of it. So if you were to remove it, free the catch and then hand it in to QHM or the police as lost then I think theft would be tricky. In the same vein, wouldn't you have to damage it to incur criminal damage.
webcraft
Well-Known Member
macd
Well-Known Member
Go on, tell us: did you type that with a straight face?
Seajet
...
Well none of us read it with a straight face !
The important thing we are getting at is that a boat suddenly pinned down by the stern somewhere like Portland inshore passage may well be overwhelmed and anyone going over the side with a knife would be in grave danger; lifting the pots is not really viable.
I knew someone whose propshaft came loose, it nearly sank his boat, he had to tie up tight alongside my boat rather quickly; so having this happen courtesy of a lobster pot in a strong wind & tide doesn't bear thinking about.
There is a line of small blue plastic cans ( maybe old White Spirits cans ? ) on the direct bee line from Chichester entrance to the Dolphin passage in the submarine barrier from Southsea to Horse Sand Fort.
If I was the type of idiot who wanted to hunt badgers and foxes, could I place traps in the middle of main roads ?!
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Ah well! With your exposed prop you will catch something one day - despite your long keel. Result will be the same - at best inconvenience, at worst disabled.
Rigger Mortice
N/A
Exactly.
Seajet
...
I'm relatively lucky in that my boat has an outboard in a well, so if we picked up a pot line - and it wasn't too rough a sea - I should be able to lift the engine and apply the trusty old breadknife.
If I had another boat with an inboard engine though I'd be more concerned; we have long handled ' loppers ' for reaching high branches in the garden, they have powerful cutting jaws and a serrated blade.
If some thoughtless idiot left a pot marker in a critical channel I'd happily use the loppers and he can see me in court if he likes !
I have discussed the point about pots in places like Portland with a true professional seaman & fisherman on these forums; he said he'd be relatively happy for the line to be cut as it doesn't mean much displacing the pot, which he could recover with a trawled anchor.
I don't think he'd ever stoop to putting pots in a place like that in the first place though; apparently a lot of the trouble is caused by semi-amateurs who lay pots willy nilly to get lobsters and crabs for their mates running pubs.
If I had another boat with an inboard engine though I'd be more concerned; we have long handled ' loppers ' for reaching high branches in the garden, they have powerful cutting jaws and a serrated blade.
If some thoughtless idiot left a pot marker in a critical channel I'd happily use the loppers and he can see me in court if he likes !
I have discussed the point about pots in places like Portland with a true professional seaman & fisherman on these forums; he said he'd be relatively happy for the line to be cut as it doesn't mean much displacing the pot, which he could recover with a trawled anchor.
I don't think he'd ever stoop to putting pots in a place like that in the first place though; apparently a lot of the trouble is caused by semi-amateurs who lay pots willy nilly to get lobsters and crabs for their mates running pubs.
macd
Well-Known Member
For what it's worth, that's exactly how theft is defined in English/Welsh law (don't know about Scottish). Not sure I'd want my boat littered with pots though (just their occupants...).
Seven Spades
Well-Known Member
Four years ago I caught a pot off Calshot at 10pm as we were leaving on holiday. We had to limb back to Hamble point and get a diver out. This was an illegally marked pot, no danbouy or light it cost me around £100 for the diver. I have a rope cutter fitted and I have no idea if the fisherman lost his pot but it is highly likely.
If these fishermen were to correctly mark their pots so that we can see them and avoid them we would not have any objections.
If these fishermen were to correctly mark their pots so that we can see them and avoid them we would not have any objections.
Seajet
...
There was the story of the Kings' yacht Brittania, they anchored in Studland and pulled up a lobster pot helping themselves to the contents, placing a bottle of champage in as payment; I suspect the fisherman would rather have had a few quid !
As for running into lines in the water, this wasn't a lobster pot but similarly thoughtlessly placed; a chum recently ran into a line left in a busy channel, it ripped out the prop shaft P bracket causing £350 of damage, could have sunk the boat and has put her out of action for weeks.
As for running into lines in the water, this wasn't a lobster pot but similarly thoughtlessly placed; a chum recently ran into a line left in a busy channel, it ripped out the prop shaft P bracket causing £350 of damage, could have sunk the boat and has put her out of action for weeks.
jac
Well-Known Member
There must be mileage in a group of public spirited individuals spending a day every now and then going round removing all the illegal ones and taking them to an agreed location.
Would need videoing to prove no damage incurred to protect the volunteers.
If the dodgy fishermen lose enough gear they might give up.
Would need videoing to prove no damage incurred to protect the volunteers.
If the dodgy fishermen lose enough gear they might give up.
Seajet
...
jac,
a similar thought had occurred to me.
However one has to be careful, it's well known that some fishermen place razor blades in the lines to knobble rivals stealing their catch.
They also use large salt blocks so that the buoy is underwater until the salt goes at a time when the owner is back on scene.
webcraft
Well-Known Member
It's a two blade folder, offset, with a three inch shaft. As bombproof as you can get. Still, thanks for your good wishes
- W
Seajet
...
It's a two blade folder, offset, with a three inch shaft. As bombproof as you can get. Still, thanks for your good wishes
- W
Webcraft,
by that description you've got enough on your plate without running into pot lines
Good luck !
cryan
Well-Known Member
I was going to withdraw from this thread but this is just utter nonsense! A yacht club myth perhaps but nonsense all the same. Fishermen will haul up the lines on a winch so a razor blade would not be of any defence and placing them around the marker bouys would as likely cut the owner. I think you will find that fisherman will generally deal with rogue fisherman outside the pub. As for salt block devices that hide the markers until they have had a set soak time? Where are you getting this stuff from?
Seajet
...
Cryan,
ask better informed fishermen than yourself, the razor blade thing is no myth and wasn't thought up in ' yacht clubs '.
I believe salt blocks are out of fashion now but they were popular and judging by the careless way pots are laid around Chichester I expect some still use them.
As someone said before, you are trying to defend the indefensible.
cryan
Well-Known Member
Well the solent fisherfolk must be different beasts to the rest of the islands then.
