Moral dilemma

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Tranona

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You have anchored overnight in Studland Bay. Anchor (type unspecified) was well dug in. Hauling up in the morning was hard work and you discovered you had neatly hooked an old car tyre.

Do you

1 Take it home for safe disposal

2 Dump it in the sea in a less harmful spot

3 Chuck it back where you found it
 
Tranona said:
You have anchored overnight in Studland Bay. Anchor (type unspecified) was well dug in. Hauling up in the morning was hard work and you discovered you had neatly hooked an old car tyre.

Do you

1 Take it home for safe disposal

2 Dump it in the sea in a less harmful spot

3 Chuck it back where you found it
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Serious answer - I'd lash it down somewhere out of the way like the cabin top or swim platform, and chuck it in the marina skip when I got back.

I could also imagine shoving it off the anchor with the boathook or something while it was still hanging over the bow, and letting it drop back in the water. But once I had it on deck it would just feel wrong to actively throw it over the side.

Pete
 
Although proper disposal is obviously the right answer, my actions would probably be influenced by circumstances. If I were on my way across the Channel or Lyme Bay, I might not want to be lumbered with a heavy, dirty, and wet object. I would regret its presence in the wrong place, but don't suppose that the seahorses would be too upset if I let it fall back.
 
prv said:
Serious answer - I'd lash it down somewhere out of the way like the cabin top or swim platform, and chuck it in the marina skip when I got back.

I could also imagine shoving it off the anchor with the boathook or something while it was still hanging over the bow, and letting it drop back in the water. But once I had it on deck it would just feel wrong to actively throw it over the side.
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I agree. I suspect it would also be illegal to (re)dump it.
 
I' had the pleasure last summer of foul hooking someone else's abandoned Anchor and chain, around 80 kg of it in Studland bay. We hooked it on arrival around 10pm and had the pleasure! of moving it to the high tide mark on the beach the following morning. A rather nasty smelling rusty lump of C.R.A.P.
Leaving it on board was not an option! and I can only say that the back breaking work of getting it to the beach in the dinghy after untangling it made me feel a little moral outrage towards the person who had left it there 5 to 10 years ago!
 
prv said:
Serious answer - I'd lash it down somewhere out of the way like the cabin top or swim platform, and chuck it in the marina skip when I got back.

I could also imagine shoving it off the anchor with the boathook or something while it was still hanging over the bow, and letting it drop back in the water. But once I had it on deck it would just feel wrong to actively throw it over the side.

Pete
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+2
 
I was first lt. on FT Appleby when the skipper spotted a large tree trunk in the Bristol Channel. With some difficulty, we secured a line and took it under tow. Finding anyone (by radio) prepared to accept it in harbour or relieve us of it was impossible.

In the end, we deposited it on a beach but I don't believe it was above HW mark.
 
We hooked a gas cylinder once, caught the fluke through the handle. It was impossible to retrieve the anchor as is and we eventually lifted the cylinder off the toe - where it promptly fell back into the water. I confess the priority was freeing up the anchor - and it was only afterwards I realised our moral weakness - we should have launched the dinghy, lifted the cylinder into the dinghy and disposed of properly - its easy to be wise after the event.

Jonathan
 
My Mrs has gone all hippy ecological in the last couple of years.

We had to go (just a little) out of our way last week, to pick up several punctured unicorns in the mouth of the Crouch. Apparently, unicorns kill seals and other wild life.

So, nowdays, the old tyre would be taken ashore for appropriate disposal.
 
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NealB said:
So, nowdays, the old tyre would be taken ashore for appropriate disposal.
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You, of course, will have to pay the statutory charge for the privilege of disposing of someone else's old tyre. :ambivalence:

Some garages will charge £20 per tyre unless you are buying a new tyre from them. :(

On my boat it goes straight back from whence it came.

Richard
 
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RichardS said:
You, of course, will have to pay the statutory charge for the privilege of disposing of someone else's old tyre. :ambivalence:
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Not if I've dumped it in the skip at the top of the pontoon ramp :)

My rubbish conscience only extends as far as keeping stuff (especially plastic) out of the sea. On shore, I'll recycle if convenient facilities are provided, but otherwise a bin is a bin.

Pete
 
If the tyre was covered in weed and had obviously been down there for some time, I would unhesitatingly drop it back in on the assumption that; 1. By now it was probably providing a habitat for some form of marine life, 2. Returning the tyre to the seabed will probably cause less damage to the corals in Studland Bay than my anchor did, 3. Unless you could ensure the tyre would go for recycling (someone will have to pay the £20) then it will most likely cause less environmental damage sitting back on the seabed.
If it had obviously only been down down for a couple of days before I hooked it, then I would really have a dilemma, but if I’m being really honest, I would most likely drop it back again. Thankfully I haven’t been faced with such a decision, and hope that I won’t in the future.
 
In some places, they've made 'artificial reefs' from old car tyres. They do indeed provide a habitat for various icky squirming beasties, and something for weed to attach to.
I think normally they lash lots of tyres together for this purpose and it can then also help with controlling longshore drift, like a groyne.
If it was slimy and probably full of fauna and flora, I would not be too concerned about returning it. If it was clean and free of biology, I'd take it home.
The charge to dump tyres at our tip is £8 IIRC. Or free if you can get it in a black bag or two and cover it in potato peelings. (According to urban myth).

I think scuba divers have been through this, in general leave as you find is fair comment. but many grey areas.
 
prv said:
Serious answer - I'd lash it down somewhere out of the way like the cabin top or swim platform, and chuck it in the marina skip when I got back.

I could also imagine shoving it off the anchor with the boathook or something while it was still hanging over the bow, and letting it drop back in the water. But once I had it on deck it would just feel wrong to actively throw it over the side.

Pete
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+3
 
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