South Coast Pot Problems

[aod]

I recently sailed to and from Falmouth and thought I would on route conduct a survey of the proliferation of ye noble trade of Lobster Pot Placement.

Needles Channel
Always several in the shipping lane normaly orange and almost invisible at springs as they lay to tide.
Worst offender 1 gallon black plastic oil can also in shipping lane.
Night time hazard = Medium.

Dartmouth
Literally hundreds laid in vast fields.
Range from orange buoys reasonably visible to small blue balls almost invisible.
Worst offender again black 1 gallon can.
Night time hazard = they are laid so densely that it's a racing certainty you will hook one when approaching from the East.

Start Point
Saw about a dozen spattered about again mainly orange buoys.
Worst offender ye ubiquitous trusty black 1 gallon plastic can.
Night time hazard = they lay in quite deep water and thus have a long line. During East West tides they lay to tide and are less of a problem but during slack water they snake all over the place but I have afforded the place a high rating because of the overfalls.

Start Point to Plymouth
Fields of pots usualy orange buoys and often flagged.
Again extensive use of 1 gallon plastic cans and flags.
Night time hazard = High probabilty of hooking one espec as in all cases when under engine.

Plymouth
Odd pots scattered here and there but every now and then the MOD go out and hoover them up. Disturbingly the further west you go the greater the likelyhood that the end attached to the marker buoys is made of stainless wire which prop cutters cannot sever. QAB marina regulaly go out in their rib to tow in yachts with pots wrapped around their rudders.
Night time hazard = Medium

Fowey.
Again quite a field of pots mainly orange markers and often flagged and concentrated areas are SW 2-4 miles.
Night time hazard = High due to volume.

Falmouth
Not many pots at all and those I saw are well marked with largish orange markers and flags.
Night time hazard = Low.

My submission is that the proliferation of Lobster Pots is now at dangerous levels making many south coast areas no go zones at night. Indeed Dartmouth is a dangerous place to approach at night and the probability of catching a pot or three is almost guaranteed. In a decent Easterly you would have great difficulty extricating yourself.


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[Johnjo]

Made our way up to Salcombe from Falmouth a couple of weeks ago, pot markers, plastic bags and
bits of net/ropes etc. everywhere.
Lots of course changes.
Funny thing was we sailed back from Salcombe overnight and never saw a marker or anything
else until we got a couple of miles from Falmouth!
This was dispite keeping a constant lookout,
I put this down more to luck than the fishermen moving them! But I have never seen so many plastic bags in all the years I have been sailing!
Tescos seem favourite.


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[hlb]

The only time they worry me is when rounding Start point in heavy overfalls with green sea on the deck. The thought of getting strung up by a lobster pot in those conditions makes me go green.

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn

 

[Twister_Ken]

You might like to add pots laid close to the main shipping channel in Southampton Water, in just those areas used by smaller boats to stay clear of commercial shipping. There are also now dozens that are regularly laid between the mouth of the Hamble and Hill Head, an area much used by racing yachts and small craft transiting from Southampton Water to Portsmouth and beyond.

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[blackbeard]

Christchurch Ledge is another favourite.
Surely, at this rate, it can't be long before there are no crustaceans left around our shores.

Current RYA mag publishes an interview with William Lewis, Deputy Chief Inspector of Fisheries on this and allied topics. To my mind it takes the Order of the Stale Biscuit for unhelpfulness and lack of positive ideas.

So do we all fit rope cutters to our props? (doesn't help with lines around rudders of course). What is the fisherman's view on this? How do fast motor cruisers manage? I imagine they must be picking up lines all the time with their large exposed props.

Does anyone have any positive suggestions?


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[Robin]

The black can is becoming a favourite. However from a previous posting on this we are told to feel sorry for the impecunious fisherman who cannot afford properly marked tackle. I will try to remember that when caught by one of them.

Where are the Dartmouth ones exactly? This is on our route to S Brittany next month and we will probably arrive at night direct from Poole.

Can you still buy/use air rifles? It might make a fun diversion on passage to remove the worst offenders.

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[tony_brighton]

I have a very nice anchor tripping buoy that was retrieved from a pot caught around my rudder a few years ago. Sharp knife did the trick - of course the fisherman lost a whole pot as a result so it cannot be cost effective not to mark them well.

And yes - we should all buy rope cutters for the same reason + reducing the hazard to yachts at sea which must surely outweigh the fishing argument which was thin in the extreme.

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[CliveG]

We did a night entry to Dartmouth 3 weeks ago.

Didn't catch anything then.
We also spent a couple of days sailing off Dartmouth the same week.
Again we didn't see that many pot markers.
Perhaps others had got them 1st?

Last year we nearly caught a rope floating on the surface of Start Point.
This was in fog. There must have been 60ft. of floating 10mm line on the surface.

I think the air rifle suggestion is the best so far.



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[aod]

Re: Re Robin and Tony

I am not being funny at all when I say I wouldn't go to Dartmouth from Poole if your approach to Dartmouth will be during the night. It really is very bad indeed and I would have a bet with you that you will pick up some pots. They lay to tide which roughly as one would expect runs parallel to the coast thus if your approach is from the East and crossing the tide you will be crossing the pot strings. To be honest I am astounded that the Dartmouth harbour people haven't realised how bad this is.

Someone else mentioned Christchurch ledge and I know sailing schools from Haslar that will always use the Needles Channel because Christchurch is so busy with pots.

This business about having a wire trace the last 15ft is specificaly to stop prop cutters working because they simply won't cut through stainless wire.

For my money it's getting to the stage whereby pots are becoming a serious hazard and anyone and everyone can simply drop pots when are where they like and that is exactly what people are doing.

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[salvex]

As a matter of interest, what would the legal position be if, for instance, you were unabel to free yourself from the stainless wire, drifted and damaged/sunk the boat before help could arrive?

I presume there would be two situations - one where the pot owner could be identified and the other where he couldn't.

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[aod]

I pursued this when I had my rudder ripped off in the Needles Channel by a lobster pot and I spoke to both the Yarmouth lifeboat and the MCA and they both said the same thing that if you KNEW or could PROVE who owned the pot you would be open to suing them. The trouble is the people who put them down don't tend to put their names on the floats. Even if they did they could say that it was dislodged or moved by another boat.

Personaly I like the air gun idea but I am not sure an air gun has the ooomf to sink one.

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[StephenSails]

I watched a yacht competing in the RTI race this weekend loose many places and minutes due to an inconsiderate fishermans handy work. I would be so annoyed if I was on that yacht.

It really is time that we all got toghther and campaigned for this to be policed nad controlled better.

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[aod]

I totaly agree with you. Perhaps we can contact Kim and seek some guidance as to whether we can organise some sort of petition and the best way to go about it.

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[StugeronSteve]

Probably find the pot owner sueing for loss of livelihood or something equally daft. Wonder if a proper survey could be carried out under the volunteer coastwatch scheme. Is there an EC code for fishing pot markers? If not, why not, there's one for everything else!

I've managed to avoid being hooked so far, but I know guys that seem to be developing a pot addiction.

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[Joe_Cole]

I went into Dartmouth from the East last Friday night. No problem.

We left on Sunday and, to be honest I didn't notice anymore pot markers than elsewhere. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Incidently, is the air rifle for shooting the buoys or the fishermen?

Joe

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[Joe_Cole]

I went into Dartmouth from the East last Friday night. No problem.

We left on Sunday and, to be honest I didn't notice anymore pot markers than elsewhere. Maybe I've just been lucky, though there are a lot around.

Incidently, is the air rifle for shooting the buoys or the fishermen?

Surely the best approach to solving the problem would be if we just got the boat hook onto buoys which aren't properly marked and cut the line? If we all did two or three a week the message would sink in.......

Joe

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[burgundyben]

Did you see my post of a few weeks ago about pots in that area and the bunch that are laid north of Hoath Channel?

Agreed, bloody nuisance, I thought I had caught one saturday, turned out to be a broken prop.



<hr width=100% size=1>Sod the Healey - I think I'll buy an E-Type.

 

[jimi]

Surely there should be some sort of standard agreed with the fishing industry so that there are less accidents. IE flag attached to pot as in France and line attached being capable of being cut by prop cutter. In my view it is criminal to put something almost unmarked in the water that is a hazard to navigation. Perhaps the authorities should take this view and lift anything that does not conform to an agreed standard.

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[Twister_Ken]

Smug B*rstard replies

You know, there's a lot to be said for a long keel c/w keel hung rudder and prop in a rudder aperture!

(exits stage right, sauntering, with insouciance)

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[jimi]

Re: Smug B*rstard replies

Who's Insouciance, is that some sort of French tart? You've probably been caught by pots dozens of times but never noticed due to the minimal loss of speed and lack of sensitivity (known by old codgers as way gravitas) on the helm.

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