Lyme Bay - Pots

[LittleSister]

I seem to recall a longish thread on the subject some years ago on the East Coast forum.

Someone claimed that there was a requirement in English waters to mark them visibly (whether that law, guidance or mere speculation wasn't specified). Another contributor claiming to be a fisherman said some didn't like to mark them clearly as there'd been an ongoing problem with others stealing their catch.

A third contributor strongly implied they were implementing an ongoing programme of lifting poorly marked lines, cutting them off whatever buoyed them, and dropping them to the seabed.

 

[ImpImp]

That far out, unmarked pots may not be what they appear..... may have been a much more lucrative 'catch'. Its a dodge going back centuries in the smuggling fraternity.

Good point, any thoughts as to how one might report them (over VHF that is rather than waiting to phone in). I fear the CG would be ''not my job mate'.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Project Kraken, reporting suspicious activities around the UK coastline has been widely advertised in marinas, clubs and publications.

Report suspicious behaviour around the UK coastline or at sea: Project Kraken.

Report it, let’s sort it​

Report suspicious or unusual behaviour on the coastline or at sea​

Make a report online or call UK Border Watch, powered by Crimestoppers, on 0800 011 3304.

You do not have to give your name when making a report.

In an emergency, always call 999.

 

[ylop]

Well, the guidance in Scotland is not always followed. In fact, my experience suggests it is not followed on the West Coast of Scotland at all, as this BlueMoment post, Black Lobster Pot Markers, from last year suggests. In 2018 we also had a bottom dredging fishing boat wreck the sea bed in a protected zone; fishermen in Scotland have their share of bad practises.

My experience is different and in both the clyde and Argyll/Lochaber waters the pots are marked in accordance with the “brightly coloured” purpose made bouy with the vessel ID rule. I’ve never seen a flag (but the rules don’t require one). Although I would speculate that a lot of those brightly coloured bouys were bought around the time of the rule change and are starting to have faded a lot now! I also rarely see floating string around the markers.

But that is in areas where Marine Scotland operate RIBs and I’m quite sure that if just as if you never see a traffic warden double yellow lines become a polite request, if you never see the authorities a lost bouy will be replaced with an old oil can!

 

[Wight Leopard]

I see that the problem is not just pots. Circling to anchor near Derrible Bay on Sark yesterday evening we saw two semi-submerged mooring buoys for trippers or fishing boats. Both had weed-covered (camouflaged!) floating lines extending a good 12m with no pick-up buoy visible. In the fading light these were very hard to see; it was only some disturbance on the water that warned us of their presence.

 

[Stemar]

A third contributor strongly implied they were implementing an ongoing programme of lifting poorly marked lines, cutting them off whatever buoyed them, and dropping them to the seabed.

Which, I would have thought, would leave the pot on the seabed to carry on catching, then starving lobsters, etc.

 

[lustyd]

I see that the problem is not just pots. Circling to anchor near Derrible Bay on Sark yesterday evening we saw two semi-submerged mooring buoys for trippers or fishing boats. Both had weed-covered (camouflaged!) floating lines extending a good 12m with no pick-up buoy visible. In the fading light these were very hard to see; it was only some disturbance on the water that warned us of their presence.

The rope we caught pictured above wasn’t attached to anything at all, it had been cut loose and jettisoned between Scillies and Ireland so unfortunately there really is no way to avoid a wrap. Even if we’d been looking carefully enough we wouldn’t have seen it in the conditions.

 

[Wight Leopard]

The rope we caught pictured above wasn’t attached to anything at all, it had been cut loose and jettisoned between Scillies and Ireland so unfortunately there really is no way to avoid a wrap. Even if we’d been looking carefully enough we wouldn’t have seen it in the conditions.

Agree - we got this net and orange line mid-channel just after the east-bound TSS spits out. As the picture was taken just a short time after freeing ourselves, a glance at the MFD shows why I was a tad concerned when our speed suddenly dropped from 8 to 1.5kts..... Luckily we were under sail and have a folding prop so it 'only' caught on the rudder. I let the coastguard know so the ships heading towards us would be warned as in reality I was now restricted in my ability to manoeuvre, but all we got was a barrage of irrelevant questions that distracted me from tackling the problem. I later found out that the Bridge watchkeepers on at least one vessel were listening keenly, though not one vessel altered course or speed. In fairness, however, this might well have not been necessary - but I was very glad to be able to get the heck away from the area.

 

[lustyd]

though not one vessel altered course or speed

I assume because they didn’t need to. We find most do alter course but they do it early (we have AIS to make it easy for them).

 

[ylop]

I let the coastguard know so the ships heading towards us would be warned as in reality I was now restricted in my ability to manoeuvre, but all we got was a barrage of irrelevant questions that distracted me from tackling the problem.

Is that the recommended approach? I would have thought that if your find yourself if the middle of a busy TSS with some issue that doesn’t need rescue service - that an all station Securite message was the best way to alert the traffic rather than adding a middle man.

 

[Wight Leopard]

I assume because they didn’t need to. We find most do alter course but they do it early (we have AIS to make it easy for them).

As I said, it may have been because it was not necessary.

 

[Wight Leopard]

Is that the recommended approach? I would have thought that if your find yourself if the middle of a busy TSS with some issue that doesn’t need rescue service - that an all station Securite message was the best way to alert the traffic rather than adding a middle man.

It may well have been, but with a plethora of factors and things to do in a fast moving, hazardous situation I notified the CG instead. Lesson identified, at least.

 

[Stemar]

I suspect a lot of people's reaction would be to tell the CG and let them decide what action's needed. It would certainly be mine. Too many irrelevant questions would be left for Madame to answer or, if I'm solo, would get something along the lines of, "I'm a bit busy right now, I'll call you back if anything changes"

 

[lustyd]

CG and let them decide what action's needed

Generally speaking the CG don’t (and more importantly won’t) make decisions, they leave it up to the skipper unless it’s an emergency. The CG don’t even send out the lifeboats, the RNLI make that decision.
CG just coordinates and collates info in most cases.

 

[Juan Twothree]

Generally speaking the CG don’t (and more importantly won’t) make decisions, they leave it up to the skipper unless it’s an emergency. The CG don’t even send out the lifeboats, the RNLI make that decision.
CG just coordinates and collates info in most cases.

It's the coastguard who decide whether or not the situation needs a lifeboat. Although an RNLI launching authority can turn down the tasking request, we usually reckon that for the CG to have requested us, the situation probably warrants it. After all, they have far more information about an incident than they can give us over the phone in a couple of minutes.

 

[seeSimon]

Yes; I've wondered about that but it seemed strange to place so many in close proximity where they'd be more visible to the law as well. I've also come across isolated buoys in mid-channel, even in depths of 100m or so. I'm reasonably sure that buoys laid for scientific measurements would be distinctly marked so unless there's some sort of 'super-lobster' at those depths I'm not sure what else they could be marking.

Saw one like this just last week. Just one partly submerged buff and a long pickup. Falmouth>Roscoff.
Clearly not "officialdom"...

 

[Star stream]

What does IIRC stand for?

Hi Seven Spades,
Forgive me hijacking a thread but I noticed on a previous thread you owned a starlight 39 before. I have just purchased hull 034 and am getting to grips with her. I need to replace her running gear and wondered if you could advise on what the standard spec for a starlight 39 running gear was? As you have no doubt realised I’m very new to this!
Kind regards

 

[Seven Spades]

I tried to send you a PM but as a new member I can't so here is my reply (Apologies to all).

Good morning. I am not sure what information you require from me with regards to the Starlight, I know it very well having owned one for 10/12 years. My old Starlight 39 is now on its way to do the Arc this year. Great Boats.

The standing rigging uses a lot of 8mm stainless, we had ours re-rigged by Performance Rigging at Hamble Point two or three times during our ownership; we re-rigged it just before we sold it. The running rigging was nothing special but the main halyard should be Dynema.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions. I think you need to make 10 posts before you can use the PM system. It would be better to wait until you have made some more posts so that we can take this off-line.