Lobster Pots

[Yealm]

A moan.
I counted 10 at mouth of river Yealm within about a 50yds area, most white or blue plastic containers.
Are there regulations about these - do you have be licensed, and rules on numbers etc ?

I'd suggest a new law - if you don't have one with a flag on a stick (preferably with a solar-powed light), then anyone is allowed (encouraged) to pull it up and take the lobster for dinner

 

[jaminb]

Do you think these would be any use in the back of the cockpit locker?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spear-Jack...=telescopic+tree+pruner&qid=1689970682&sr=8-6

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spear-Jack...=telescopic+tree+pruner&qid=1689970682&sr=8-6

We caught a pot off Calshott, it was pretty scary pinned stern to the waves slaping into the cockpit. Luckily with the sails dropped and a few waggles of the wheel we came free but I really didn't fancy jumping in leaving a young inexperienced family onboard.

I was so shocked at the extensive / reckless pottage I signed up to £150 p.a Sea Start membership as disentangling is part of their service.

 

[wonkywinch]

Sailing around the West Country at the moment, there was one right in the entrance to Mevagissy yesterday.

 

[Bouba]

A moan.
I counted 10 at mouth of river Yealm within about a 50yds area, most white or blue plastic containers.
Are there regulations about these - do you have be licensed, and rules on numbers etc ?

I'd suggest a new law - if you don't have one with a flag on a stick (preferably with a solar-powed light), then anyone is allowed (encouraged) to pull it up and take the lobster for dinner

Isn’t anything left floating in the sea fair game ?....

 

[Scillypete]

Jeeeez, here we go again . . . . . . . There are many users of the sea, sailing for most is a recreational pursuit, although there are some working professionally. There have always been fishing pots or nets worked in areas that produce the results, sometimes they don’t have to go far for success. YES some do leave a lot to be desired in the way they mark their gear.

Here’s a little tip that works in most places, stay away from underwater features, wrecks, ledges or sudden contour changes, they are a magnet for the target species for fishing and where pots and nets are likely to be deployed. Sometimes these features are not that obvious so a good lookout is also required.

Last of all you cannot just go round cutting off buoys or hauling someone else’s gear because it interferes with your recreational sailing plan, that is a ridiculous thing to suggest and ecologically damaging.

 

[Scillypete]

Sailing around the West Country at the moment, there was one right in the entrance to Mevagissy yesterday.

Probably one of the local boats store pot, where they will save each catch until they have enough to make a decent landing to market

 

[wonkywinch]

Probably one of the local boats store pot, where they will save each catch until they have enough to make a decent landing to market

The charts show a shellfish storage area inside the harbour but do you think it's really acceptable to place a pot here ..

50°16'10.2"N 4°46'55.9"W · South West, Vereinigtes Königreich

 

[johnalison]

Jeeeez, here we go again . . . . . . . There are many users of the sea, sailing for most is a recreational pursuit, although there are some working professionally. There have always been fishing pots or nets worked in areas that produce the results, sometimes they don’t have to go far for success. YES some do leave a lot to be desired in the way they mark their gear.

Here’s a little tip that works in most places, stay away from underwater features, wrecks, ledges or sudden contour changes, they are a magnet for the target species for fishing and where pots and nets are likely to be deployed. Sometimes these features are not that obvious so a good lookout is also required.

Last of all you cannot just go round cutting off buoys or hauling someone else’s gear because it interferes with your recreational sailing plan, that is a ridiculous thing to suggest and ecologically damaging.

There haven’t always been pots in a number of areas that are currently infested with them, with floats that are scarcely more than milk bottles, and weed-covered ones at that. I wouldn’t wish to interfere with legitimate fishing rights, but the situation, at least on the East Coast, has reached the point where a number of sailors will not do a coastal passage at night. I have not myself felt troubled by pots when visiting the West Country, since their position is usually predictable, as you say, though it can be alarming to come across one between the shipping lanes in mid-Channel, but here in the east their siting is often in the main sailing channels which were previously clear. The properly marked ones inshore and in shallows are no problem but sailing, though recreational, is a massive industry and sailors’ property, and potentially lives can be at risk with uncontrolled ‘potting’.

 

[dunedin]

Probably one of the local boats store pot, where they will save each catch until they have enough to make a decent landing to market

So by analogy, would it be acceptable for a local farmer to place a sheep pen in the middle lane of the M5?

 

[Bouba]

In fact...if you come across a navigational hazard..are you not obliged to remove it if you can safely ?

 

[Bajansailor]

I sailed to Maine, USA many years ago - we were astounded to find the pot buoys even between the closely spaced moorings in the harbours, in fairways, everywhere pretty much in Penobscot Bay.

 

[finestgreen]

Jeeeez, here we go again . . . . . . . There are many users of the sea, sailing for most is a recreational pursuit, although there are some working professionally. There have always been fishing pots or nets worked in areas that produce the results, sometimes they don’t have to go far for success. YES some do leave a lot to be desired in the way they mark their gear.

Here’s a little tip that works in most places, stay away from underwater features, wrecks, ledges or sudden contour changes, they are a magnet for the target species for fishing and where pots and nets are likely to be deployed. Sometimes these features are not that obvious so a good lookout is also required.

Last of all you cannot just go round cutting off buoys or hauling someone else’s gear because it interferes with your recreational sailing plan, that is a ridiculous thing to suggest and ecologically damaging.

In what other context would it be acceptable for industrial users of a public space to put people's lives at risk because they're "only recreational"?

 

[footsoldier]

Last of all you cannot just go round cutting off buoys or hauling someone else’s gear because it interferes with your recreational sailing plan, that is a ridiculous thing to suggest and ecologically damaging.

Sillypete talking out of his backside, as usual.

The OP was at pains to mention that the pots were spread across the entrance to a river, - where they present a hazard to lawful users of the waterway. The proliferation of pots in ridiculously unsafe places is not - generally - down to legitimate, professional fishermen. It is down to the huge number of cowboys and benefits cheats who infest coastal towns.

 

[Scillypete]

Sillypete talking out of his backside, as usual.

The OP was at pains to mention that the pots were spread across the entrance to a river, - where they present a hazard to lawful users of the waterway. The proliferation of pots in ridiculously unsafe places is not - generally - down to legitimate, professional fishermen. It is down to the huge number of cowboys and benefits cheats who infest coastal towns.

Wow, you’re very quick to label anyone that has a view that doesn’t comply with your own

 

[mainsail1]

We have been here before on this forum and I am afraid the powers that be have no interest in helping. Nothing is done or will be done.
My tactics now include using only sails at night rather than using the engine so at least my prop is not entangled and having equipment onboard to cut the boat free if the lines are around the rudder.

 

[Scillypete]

Fishing with pots and nets has been going on for hundreds of years before recreational sailing was even a thing. Not so many decades ago pots/nets would be marked with cork floats or glass balls. Most sailing vessels then were long keeled. Since there has been a massive surge in leisure pursuits on the water and also design changes to hull shapes and keel forms. Many are literally sailing around with rope catchers below the waterline with thin bulbed keels, spindly balanced rudders and either an unprotected prop on a shaft and p bracket or a drive leg. These modern boats are generally 36ft upwards (there are not so many cruising around on smaller boats these days) which adds to the difficulty of seeing what’s passing under the bow.

Yes they should be better marked these days with at least a brightly coloured buff or float pole and flag, also marking these with owners name and contact number would also help. Professional boats generally mark theirs with registration numbers.

Not all the floats mark pots/nets some divers mark a feature they want to return to.

 

[DJE]

Are there regulations about these - do you have be licensed, and rules on numbers etc ?

Improperly marked fishing gear has been illegal in KHM Portsmouth's area (Which includes the whole of the East Solent) for years. It makes no difference.

 

[Lightwave395]

One of my more puckering sails was in February this year - a night solo passage from Camaret to Benodet. Having safely passed through the Raz de Sein and checking the chart for the next WP only then I remembered how many pots there usually were off Penmarc'h, right across the main track to/from the Raz. Courage failed me and a few miles off I dived south to give it a wide berth before resuming an easterly course adding about two hours to my trip, thankfully I didn't see a single pot...

 

[capnsensible]

For those who get red faced over this problem do please avoid Atlantic Spain and Portugal. And never, just never go near Morocco you will explode.

 

[Scillypete]

I do hope everyone enjoys their crab sandwiches and lobster dinners when off on their summer cruise and not give a single thought to how it came to the plate