Petition to stop lobster traps trapping us

[Paddy Layback]

I would suggest it is not if you can safely navigate around it.

Yes, I see what you mean, but:

He might be seeing it clearly, and able to navigate around it, when he is: wide awake, engine working, well crewed, in light weather, in daylight, with no tide to catch, at slack water, etc etc.

And he might rightly take a view that the pot buoy in question would present a potentially lethal hazard to navigation, should any of those ideal conditions not be present.

(In my life they are never all present..)

In which case, removing it (if he could do safely) would be a public duty, like removing some barbed wire stretched across a cycle path at neck height.

 

[fisherman]

A thief who stole some part time pots ended up in court. He was seen by the owner removing them, then a message was relayed to him that this was the case so he replaced them. Then the owner (stupidly, he is an ex policeman) decided to prosecute and it went to court. The defence held that he had not meant to deprive the owner and had replaced them after 'borrowing' them. Case dismissed and would the defendant like expenses? So if you move a pot but do not deprive the owner of it, maybe OK.

 

[PilotWolf]

With all due respect, go and get stuffed.

What an [not] unexpected response

Please explain how one person can keep a PROPER lookout alone, if at sea for more than a few hours? And as such comply with the IRPCS?

PW

 

[PilotWolf]

Incidentally, Road works contractors have a duty of care to maintain road markings such as cones & can face serious fines if found to be in breach- So I am glad you used that comparison because that is precisely what we as yachtsmen would like to see used with unreasonable fishermen

Who mentioned road contractors?

Interesting that no one seems to have commented on the size of the markers that I linked to, used here in the allegedly 'sue everyone' USA...

PW

 

[Paddy Layback]

What an [not] unexpected response

Please explain how one person can keep a PROPER lookout alone, if at sea for more than a few hours? And as such comply with the IRPCS?

PW

Who said anything about " more than a few hours" ? Pot buoys are all coastal.

Are you seriously saying that all coastal yacht cruising, and deliveries, should have a dedicated lookout to watch for irresponsibly sited and dull-coloured pot buoys?
It sounds as though you are implying that a single handed yacht deserves to get a pot line round his prop and suffer all the dangerous consequences.



Long distance singlehanding is another discussion entirely, perhaps you should take it up with Robin Knox-Johnston.or Alex Thomson.

 

[Daydream believer]

Who mentioned road contractors?

Well one would consider that the presence of traffic cones ( as indicated in your post ~111-ie "If you hit a traffic cone on the motorway") would suggest that they were placed there by contractors engaged in road works.
Of course they could have been placed there by some other idiot not normally engaged in due commercial process - as can crab pots

 

[Daydream believer]

Please explain how one person can keep a PROPER lookout alone, if at sea for more than a few hours? And as such comply with the IRPCS?

PW

I suggest you ask the numerous single handed skippers of crab boats that one sees around our coasts. perhaps they can give a reasoned response to your question.
( I have seen a couple that could do with a refresher on the colregs. )

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

I suggest you ask the numerous single handed skippers of crab boats that one sees around our coasts. perhaps they can give a reasoned response to your question.

Im fairly sure the answer will be

Permanent lookout, as in "look out, I'm fishing"

 

[Paddy Layback]

I suggest you ask the numerous single handed skippers of crab boats that one sees around our coasts. perhaps they can give a reasoned response to your question.

A fair point

 

[Paddy Layback]

Im fairly sure the answer will be

Permanent lookout, as in "look out, I'm fishing"

Of course, that shape only applies to vessels which are unable to comply with the rules because they are fishing at the time, eg otter trawl, seine netting, etc.

Welding the shapes permanently onto the wheelhouse roof, hmmm..

It's debatable whether pot boats should be using it, and in fact, heading up channel in the last few days, having seen dozens, off Hampshire and Sussex, they usually don't seem to bother.

And they aren't all feckless pot pikies either, fair play, I've seen plenty of big bright orange buoys, big flags etc, as well as grimy little blue milk cartons etc.

 

[Daydream believer]

Of course, that shape only applies to vessels which are unable to comply with the rules because they are fishing at the time, eg otter trawl, seine netting, etc.

.

It is not a case of " unable to comply with rules" it is more a case of "change of status" within the rules.
There are instances whereby they cannot just act in blind ignorance & i am sure others more versed in the rules than me will be along to explain

 

[Paddy Layback]

Yes my mistake, thanks. I was thinking of them (eg seine netter with nets deployed) being temporarily unable to behave as a normal PDV, but 'change of status' is much better..

 

[lenten]

A thief who stole some part time pots ended up in court. He was seen by the owner removing them, then a message was relayed to him that this was the case so he replaced them. Then the owner (stupidly, he is an ex policeman) decided to prosecute and it went to court. The defence held that he had not meant to deprive the owner and had replaced them after 'borrowing' them. Case dismissed and would the defendant like expenses? So if you move a pot but do not deprive the owner of it, maybe OK.

---------------similar but different----we worked a potting boat for a couple of months because the owner had broken his arm in the capstan----one day we saw a boat we knew shoot a short string of pots across the next string that we were going to pull ----to avoid tangling----we decided to pull his pots-----stow them and give them back ashore----we put them on the quay and informed the owner who denied all knowledge of them-------1 hour later mayhem on the quay----an extremely angry fisherman arrived and it was going to be fisticuffs and swimming for some-----fortunately a mutual aquantaince vouched for us----the pots were stolen ---- police called ----nothing happened----wouldn t rely on the police for anything offshore---they know little of what goes on out there

--

 

[fisherman]

So were they stolen and then dropped on top of you? I might have hauled them but left them there, or done as follows, I'll bore everyone for a moment. I have a 'pro' fisherman round me, who, should I shoot him down, can't manage, and cuts mine. He shoots me down just as often, but I, being a bit more 'pro' than him get myself clear, despite being single handed. It takes me 30 seconds. As soon as the oppo's back rope comes to surface I gather up some slack of my rope in the boat, cut it, pass it out and under his and back in, then cast off the loop and carry on hauling. It's quick and easy inshore but can be a bit twangy in forty fathoms of water. When I started leaving messages attached to his ropes he realised how often I could have cut him and desisted.

 

[ollyp]

They have cut the petition short - it is only running for 1/12 of the original time - WE ONLY HAVE 1 WEEK, we have got to spread the word about it - we are nearly at 5000 signitures.

Read more about why the government cut it short here (it is because parliament is dissolved before the general election).

https://www.parliament.uk/business/...arliament-2015/petitions-2017-election--faqs/

 

[longjohnsilver]

They have cut the petition short - it is only running for 1/12 of the original time - WE ONLY HAVE 1 WEEK, we have got to spread the word about it - we are nearly at 5000 signitures.

Read more about why the government cut it short here (it is because parliament is dissolved before the general election).

https://www.parliament.uk/business/...arliament-2015/petitions-2017-election--faqs/

Unfortunately there's not a hope of reaching 100,000. Too limited an audience. But I have signed it, just in case. And it has raised the issue again in the boating world.

 

[lenten]

yes fisherman --- about a dozen stolen pots shot at right angles across the middle of our string----we took them in partially to help us and partially to tell the "owner" not to be such a prat as it was a flat calm day and we could see all the action and all the bouys clearly from 1/4--1/2 mile away-------------------------------when i was handhauling i started to get shot down by a boat with short strings who was trying to get on a really productive bit of ground i was on---i could get my single pots to the boat but couldn t get them in without cutting his rope which i wouldn t do------eventually i cut one of his marker bouys off----motored a couple miles up the coast to his home port----tied the bouy on the on to the rail next to his boat and lazed in the sun until curiousity got the better of of one of the old fisherman and i explained why i was there----problem solved----never met the bloke----but very wary of "fish wars"

 

[fisherman]

I'm reminded of a boat off the Lizard hauling a string of pots in thick fog, found another boat hauling from the other end.

 

[rotrax]

When I was a lad, in the early 50's, I would watch the pot boats-rowed in those days-going out from the East Beach at Selsey Bill.

Cork floats, hand made wicker pots in a shank of up to a dozen and hauled by hand.

They must have been tough buggers!

Certain times of the year they would pot for cuttle-Quiddle?-and boil it up on the beach and eat it. Most went for pot bait though.

I caught my first sea fish-a small red gurnard-off the lifeboat slip at Selsey. Grandmother knew the cox and got me permission.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I'm reminded of a boat off the Lizard hauling a string of pots in thick fog, found another boat hauling from the other end.

That's funny.