Petition to stop lobster traps trapping us

Have some leaflets printed out, QR code on them for smartphone users to go straight to the petition URL, nice graphic on the leaflets and some personal stories or some stats, and hand them out next time you are in the pub. Do some carpark leafleting near your marina. Maybe a letter or two to a relevant publication "raising awareness of the issue", get into an argument with a fisheries leader or celeb chef on twitter, and the way to 100k can be ground away. It is all about publicity and optics. Maybe make common cause with a seabed conservation charity or a vegan promotion group. They can bring a high block vote in if it is spun correctly, and they wouldn't mind taking a pop at lobstermen. I think the scallop dredging boats, small industry as it is, wouldn't mind more restrictions on lobster pot markers too. Get some intersectionality going and it can be done. Nearly all successful 100k petitions are built on intersectional campaigning, usually combining groups whose ultimate end goals are antithetical and whose memberships loathe each other.
 
dancrane said:
How often have you contributed to the YBW forum, Skeffles? And why, exactly?
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Only once before, I've been a long term lurker otherwise. Been involved in a lot of campaigns over the years though, that is what it takes to get a petition over 100k though. Take the advice or ignore it, makes no odds to me. I'm going back to lurking now.
 
I apologise Skeffles. Seemed a little odd, that's all...one post per year, and this latest, apparently (but inexplicably) very energetic.

Norman is right, I know. I lunge when I should lurk.
 
Signed and shared to FB. I often wonder if they caused the loss of my boat, and very nearly cost me my life. There are thousands of them on the coast where I sail, and some are almost impossible to see, especially in heavy seas. There's absolutely no need to "mark" them with transparent pop bottles.
 
elton said:
Signed and shared to FB. I often wonder if they caused the loss of my boat, and very nearly cost me my life. There are thousands of them on the coast where I sail, and some are almost impossible to see, especially in heavy seas. There's absolutely no need to "mark" them with transparent pop bottles.
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FB??
 
Just a thought - if everyone signing the petition could spend an extra minute voicing their concern in an email to QHM they may get their arse in gear and do something which I'm not sure will happen anytime soon by sending a protest up to Downing Street - and in any case QHM will soon get peed off with his inbox being inundated with lobster pot complainants.

portsmouth@qhm.mod.uk
 
Scillypete said:
If you know that a certain area is heavily fished and there will be numerous pot buoys don't go through it, you wouldn't sail through a wind farm would you.
I won't be signing.

Hope everyone enjoys their lobster dinners and crab sandwiches this summer . . . . fair winds
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Thanks very much. Mine'll be courtesy of the owner of the first concealed pot marker I pass. After all, if it's not marked, it's abandoned, isn't it.
 
Is there a problem of falling between two stools here?

Fishing rules = defra

Safety at sea = department of transport

But which ever department it is will undoubtedly ask the RYA, RNLI and the MCA if this is a real problem. What would they say in response?
 
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Twister_Ken said:
RNLI would agree - almost 300 callouts pa for this
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So as the Teddies and rattles are flying from prams in all directions we finally get some numbers.

Almost 300 callouts per annum (I assume throughout the UK) against how many yacht/small pleasure craft sailings? on a good weekend in the height of the summer there must be thousands (probably tens of) of yachts and small craft going afloat. It would seem even from a rough guide of guesstimate figures that there are less than 1% of yachts and small craft being towed in.

Maybe the Solent has a particularly acute problem and interested parties need to address this with their local authorities. If the rough guide statistics are anywhere near realistic then no government department is ever going to do anything on such a low percentage.

Personally I would feel safer sailing through the Solent on a daily basis than commuting on the countries motorways
 
As we talk to many fishermen at shows and whilst delivering (cutters) to yards, it is the fishermen that suffer more instances of catching pot ropes than leisure sailors and motor boats from what I hear and read. There should be a standard for pot markers, but I know there are also many private pots set off the south Devon coast and trying to police these will be very difficult.

Survey boats we supply who work inshore also think a big problem is floating debris of old nets and lines rather than just pots. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it poses a bigger problem to fishing boats who are out every day than to yachts so in some ways it self polices as they want to see them. Yachts also have the advantage of sails as long as there is some breeze.

Maybe the RNLI could run a campaign to highlight and remove badly marked pots? seeing as they will know where they are if they are called out.
 
Scillypete said:
So as the Teddies and rattles are flying from prams in all directions we finally get some numbers.

Almost 300 callouts per annum (I assume throughout the UK) against how many yacht/small pleasure craft sailings? on a good weekend in the height of the summer there must be thousands (probably tens of) of yachts and small craft going afloat. It would seem even from a rough guide of guesstimate figures that there are less than 1% of yachts and small craft being towed in.

Maybe the Solent has a particularly acute problem and interested parties need to address this with their local authorities. If the rough guide statistics are anywhere near realistic then no government department is ever going to do anything on such a low percentage.

Personally I would feel safer sailing through the Solent on a daily basis than commuting on the countries motorways
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Hi Pete,

Your objection with this seems (at least in part) to be at odds with your own practice. You have stated that old plastic bottles are not up to the job of marking pots and that clearly marked pots should present no problem. The petition is calling for the same thing.

Rather than find a handy local potter, I'd be interested to know how you mark your pots, the difficulties you encounter and how you mitigate against them.

I have signed the petition because there is a slim chance doing so may improve marking practice, not because I want to see a ban on commercial or leisure potting.

Be careful quoting stats. The number of serious injuries on UK roads per car is around 0.07%. I doubt few would think that figure is low enough. I'm not suggesting the level or seriousness is the same, just that stats on their own can be misleading.

John
 
Scillypete said:
So as the Teddies and rattles are flying from prams in all directions we finally get some numbers.

Almost 300 callouts per annum (I assume throughout the UK) against how many yacht/small pleasure craft sailings? on a good weekend in the height of the summer there must be thousands (probably tens of) of yachts and small craft going afloat. It would seem even from a rough guide of guesstimate figures that there are less than 1% of yachts and small craft being towed in.

Maybe the Solent has a particularly acute problem and interested parties need to address this with their local authorities. If the rough guide statistics are anywhere near realistic then no government department is ever going to do anything on such a low percentage.

Personally I would feel safer sailing through the Solent on a daily basis than commuting on the countries motorways
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You're right, of course. If reckless behaviour doesn't affect many people, it's fine. So if a yacht is unlikely to get snared on an unmarked line because there's lots of sea and it's not that congested with boats, it's OK to leave lines unmarked.

So presumably if, say, a car is unlikely to have its tyres punctured on carpet tacks because in St Mary's, Isles of Scilly there's lots of road and it's not that congested with cars, it would be OK to leave them out?!

Or if, say, we take some hunting rifles (no, I don't shoot) into the countryside and fire away from buildings where there's lots of land and it's not that congested with walkers, that's fine in your book too?!

Come on, you're defending the indefensible. If you leave unmarked bot buoys in the sea you're creating a hazard to navigation (and in some locations, to life), you're responsible for the consequences whether or not you get found, and anyone is within their rights to collect your clearly abandoned kit.
 
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