Pot mahem

[Boz]

Just come down from Southwold to Shotley....

At the South end of Cutler bank there was a positive forest of pot flags some clearly in a long line of maybe six or more flags. Are these flags connected? Can you sail between them? Are they all connected to the bottom, how much of a Hazard are they?

 

[Otter]

You can sail or motor between them though keep down tide of the nearest one to you. They are just pot markers on a line connecting them near the bottom of the sea. Occasionally they are marking a net that is set near the bottom; gear loss is a massive financial headache for a professional fisherman so they mark these things well. Unscrupulous rogues however don't but I guess every sphere of life has unscrupulous rogues.

 

[Triassic]

I came across a similar set up a few weeks ago off Whitstable, about a dozen pots in a long line each one about 50m apart. The ones on either end were nicely flagged, those between just the usual plastic bottle. I actually stopped and checked them out because I too wondered if there was any obstruction between them, perhaps a net or similar. Happily nothing so continued on my way.

 

[Boz]

You can sail or motor between them though keep down tide of the nearest one to you. They are just pot markers on a line connecting them near the bottom of the sea. Occasionally they are marking a net that is set near the bottom; gear loss is a massive financial headache for a professional fisherman so they mark these things well. Unscrupulous rogues however don't but I guess every sphere of life has unscrupulous rogues.

Did I read somewhere that there was aplan to mark these potmarkers with an AIS transponder?

 

[Otter]

If there was I doubt it would happen, too much chance of it getting nicked!

 

[FulmarJeddo]

I came across a similar set up a few weeks ago off Whitstable, about a dozen pots in a long line each one about 50m apart. The ones on either end were nicely flagged, those between just the usual plastic bottle. I actually stopped and checked them out because I too wondered if there was any obstruction between them, perhaps a net or similar. Happily nothing so continued on my way.

A couple of years ago there was a boat putting out drift nets off Sheppey floating up to the surface. They were close in shore, so not affecting most on here but were a p.i.a if using a small boat from the beach. The nets were about 1/4 mile long and he had 2 or 3 out. I haven't seen them since.

Earlier this year I was sailing up to Harwich from the Medway going outside the Gunfleet sands with 2 other boats when the boat in front radioed to say they had just gone through a line of small markers, probably about 10m apart. When I got there it was obviously a drift net. I called up the other boat behind me to warn him and was trying to work out if I should go through or try and find the end, when the fishing boat chirped in that the net was 3 fathoms down so we were ok to go over it.