What happens when you snag a lobster pot ?

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Dont think I would perposely go through lobster pots full bore

[/ QUOTE ]Agree neither would I, try to avoid them and keep a sharp lookout, but you miss the odd few and thats where the shaft rpm helps, if your unlucky. Most times you go over them after seeing them too late but they don't hit the stern gear
 
Hi! Thanks for your interesting thread, as always!
Your original subject-line asked 'what happens when you snag a lobster pot?' Usual answer: your vessel stops!
But two points I've always wondered about.
Firstly, a shaft-drive vessel with protected, or semi-protected stern gear (or as mentioned earlier, in-board access via an inspection hatch. Or a tilting outdrive or outboard that allows you access) appears to be very much preferable. Along with an effective rope-cutter, and another form of propulsion if you can cut the rope, but can't get it unsnagged - ie sails. Or an auxiliary.
Point two: fishing/commercial boats usually spend much more time at sea than leisure boats - including night-time, and a lot of fishing boats rely on a single engine and prop; so you'd have thought they would be much more worried about snagging pot-lines. And would take care laying them perhaps. Or be snagging onto them all the time. But perhaps fishing boats have better protected props? Or know where every pot is!? Or something? PS - thanks 'Fisherman' for the tip about helping to un-snag!
 
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Point two: fishing/commercial boats usually spend much more time at sea than leisure boats - including night-time, and a lot of fishing boats rely on a single engine and prop; so you'd have thought they would be much more worried about snagging pot-lines. And would take care laying them perhaps. Or be snagging onto them all the time. But perhaps fishing boats have better protected props? Or know where every pot is!? Or something? PS - thanks 'Fisherman' for the tip about helping to un-snag!

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The underwater profile of a fishingboat is way different to a planing boat. The ones I've seen ashore often have something like a long keel with the prop protruding from the trailing edge and rudder aft of that, so it's fairly well protected I guess. A little like this:-

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A planing boat on the other-hand by virtue of it's planing nature has a much shallower hull, no keel, and the props are completely exposed (don't be mislead by mention of "tunneled props", they're not really in tunnels, this just refers to the hull being scalloped out slightly to allow the props to be a little higher without hitting the hull in order to reduce the shaft angle and therefore increase thrust efficiency and reduce draft). Like this:

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Horses for courses and all that.
 
I am surprised that nobody so far (apart from Duncan perhaps) has come to the defence of the fishermen who are trying to earn a living by catching the crabs and lobsters that everybody (yachties included) adamantly demands in restaurants.

When I was living in Poole I went out on a pal's lobster boat a few times to see how they 'shot' and retrieved their pots. One time was on Boxing Day, with a bitter frost as we left the harbour at 0530 (ideally they want to pull the pots at slack water, and the pots might be almost out in mid channel).....

On my pal's boat, they usually only have two crew - the Captain / Helm, and the crew (who shoots and retreives the pots, and hoiks out the catch as each pot is brought aboard).

As Duncan noted earlier, in Channel waters the pots are usually set in a string which can be any quantity, all in series, with a buoy / retrieval line at each end.

Yachts folk (both power and sail) should be grateful that they use this system, rather than (eg) having a line on each buoy, as is often found in New England waters in the USA.

And be grateful that the density of pots is no where near the saturation levels one sees in the USA - when I sailed up to Maine 12 years ago I saw pots being laid even in anchorages and amongst moored vessels....

My pal in England has often found one of his two retreival lines cut, and sometimes he has lost both. Maybe with accurate GPS today one can get a POB fix accurate enough to allow for going 'fishing' with a grapnel to try and find the string of pots, but in the days before GPS one usually had to just count the losses if both risers were cut.

Lobster fishermen certainly do lead a hard life, thats for sure. And while they are called 'lobster', invariably the bulk of the catch is usually crabs, with just the odd lobster (which can be few and far between).
 
Well said that man. In fact when I leave pots over the winter I take the buffs off, it stops them getting tangled or cut off. Even before GPS we routinely used to creep for lost gear, using landmarks, and I prefer a good landmark to work on now.

The gear that causes the trouble is mostly set by part timers, for whom I have a healthy disrespect. They fish a bit of ground long after I've left it, until there's nothing there. If their gear is sub standard I make not the slightest effort to clear it.

Since I spend about 1000 hours at sea a year, I'm more vulnerable than some of you that do a few hundred.
I had a Cyclone for a while, the prop was very exposed. Now I have a deep draft with a straight stem. When I hit a rope it usually catches on the keel band, streams back and goes in the prop from both sides.

I would question whether it is prudent to go charging about with a totally exposed propeller. There's all sorts of junk about apart from fishing gear; I hit a tree once at 14 kts.

I still think you need to decide what you would like the fishermen to do, and try to have some sort of dialogue to let them know the problems.
 
A lot of leisure boat owners think that fishermen don't have problems, but they do, as Fisher has said. It's not just on exposed props either. The boat below had its gearbox damaged from a rope round the prop, so exposed props or not debris can do some serious damage. Most of our work is with commercial and fishing boats not with leisure boats.

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I am surprised that nobody so far (apart from Duncan perhaps) has come to the defence of the fishermen who are trying to earn a living by catching the crabs and lobsters that everybody (yachties included) adamantly demands in restaurants.


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I have no problem with lobster pots what-so-ever, provided I can see the markers!!

But when I suddenly spot one 2 inches under the surface as I'm passing it at 30 knots it doesn't leave a warm glow I can assure you. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
I think the point is not that we don't want them dropping pots but that they don't seem to have taken on the idea they now share the water with a lot of lesuire boats and haven't adapted.

Something like a danbouy instead of a tiny often underwater float would reduce foulings *and* chance of cut lines and lost pots. Doesn't that help everyone?
 
Absolutely right.

Still, at least you don't see them using old milk cartons etc like they used to... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
IME and as already said Lobster pots set by commercial fishermen are set in a "string". The row of pots lie on the seabed with bouyed lines at each end of the string. Basically this means that if you can see one, then the odds are strong that another one is around!

If you get to learn your area you soon know where you are likely to encounter them (they are not set ramdomly only in places that "work"). You "Just" need to keep a good lookout.............and horror of horrors............maybe even slow down???!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

IME the non-proffessionals are more likely to use just the one pot marker (only one or two pots?) and have a tendency to be closer inshore (which is of course where problems arise!) and of course use cheaper gear (i.e. non visible pot markers - also possibly to try and stop the pro's slicing / lifting them? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif).
 
I have no problem with fishermen using lobster pots as long as they are well marked, AND dont and leave 10m of floating nylon line tied to them on top. Lobster pots are part of the coastal scene. What annoys me are the ones marked with clear, grey or black plastic bottles and cans, common around parts of the Irish coast.

Off Cork, Kerry they seem to be well marked by pros with Day-Glo orange buoys but without danbuoy’s, whereas off the Waterford and Wexford coasts there seems to be more marked with danbuoys. Around Dublin bay, anything seems to go from plastic coke bottles to footballs and usually slag nylon rope floating on the surface.

We make a huge effort to avoid them (ie very sharp lookout) in areas where they are expected, but I have no sympathy for badly marked ones, or ones with stupid lengths of nylon floating on the surface (ie usually set by non pros). Thankfully drift netting has now finally been banned around the ROI coast (ie salmon nets), which has always been the greater risk anyway. On night passages next season we'll keep at least 4nm off the coast just in case, cause being Ireland some love to thumb our noses at regulation! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Live and let live - cuts two ways - hence good rope cutters!
 
One of the problems I have is ships cutting off buffs, and a while back I was losing 100 a year. One solution is to heavily weight the rope so it hangs vertical, and ships only push the buff aside. This is what I would push for in busy areas.

One mystery: when the buff has 20 fm of leaded rope, then floaty polyprop, why does it always part or get cut one fathom from the knot? None of the rope is ever on the surface, or near it, as this is in strong tide and 45 fm of water.
 
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If you get to learn your area you soon know where you are likely to encounter them (they are not set ramdomly only in places that "work").

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How do you do this? By going looking for them or having built up a map by plotting every time you snag one and call for a tow? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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You "Just" need to keep a good lookout.............and horror of horrors............maybe even slow down???!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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I have no problem with a good lookout, but even the orange bouys are there for the fisherman to locate the end of his string of pots from a general location not for them to be avoided. Hence my suggestion of danbouys, that would be a positive step to show other water users where to avoid. I'd have to go off the plane /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif to spot some of those in time from the pics posted earlier in this thread.
 
One of your photos looks similar to a solid black danbouy as found off Woodbridge , they mark drift nets and can be dangerous.

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Need to be avoided at any time but during times of seal distemper dead seals can be caught in them that float the net to the surface.
The current then makes the net tight just below the surface.
These are always strung across channels.
(nets are also found behind cobbles all the way up the East coast.)

I hit one a few years back at 24 knts.

Boat stopped dead.
Hit head on steering wheel.
I was singlehanded and not sure if I was unconscious or just disoriented but found myself bleeding from the forehead and not really making much sense of the fact the coastguard was speaking to me but I dont recall calling them /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Anyway , I hung over the stern to find oil bubbling around.
Limped back in on one engine and had £4000 damage /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif, Insurers authorized and paid up within days.


Nice to hear from Oceanfroggie these have been banned in some areas /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Dont worry, I have not seen them South of the Thames.
Once you know what to look for they are safe (in daylight anyway !)
I was really unlucky, it was crack of dawn, seal distemper is not that common and for a seal to get stuck in a net was unlucky.

There was no real damage done, I was annoyed because I got up early and had just settled in for a 160 nm relaxed cruise but only made it 10 nm /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

Sorry to learn of your arm.
 
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