Background:
The Cliff Walk in Newport Rhode Island provides those who pursue recreational hook and line fishing an opportunity to access some of the best surf casting areas in New England. Surf Fishing is highly touted as a recreational activity on the Cliff Walk which is designated a "National Recreational Trail", one of 65 in the United States.
Surf Fishing the Cliff Walk has long been a tradition for many Rhode Island residents. The Cliff Walk has become a very important area for recreational shore fishermen in an era of ever-decreasing shoreline access.
Over the years surf fishermen and commercial lobstermen have shared the inshore waters of the Cliff Walk in relative harmony. Occasional gear conflicts were rare as lobster pot density in the area was moderate. Lobsterman and recreational fishermen respected each others livelihood and pastime.
This harmony has now changed. The change started about 3 years ago when areas that normally would have a single pot marker began to have a density of 3-4. Those areas where a single pot marker did not create a conflict with shore fishermen are now, at times, so saturated with pot markers that the area cannot be fished recreationally for fear of losing gear and/or fish. This has become a real issue and the recreational shore community is looking for some relief.



A few months ago I posted a thread about the explosion of lobster/fish pot buoys in some of our local surf fishing locations in Newport. Inshore lobstering and the popularity of "fish potting" was the reason for the increase in pot buoys. Our fishing club was determined to do something about this deteriorating situation.

We contacted the RI Marine Fisheries Council and asked them to provide recreational shore fishermen with some guidance on how to settle these "gear conflicts". What the Marine Fisheries Council didn't realize was that the popularity of "fish potting" coupled with the existing lobster fishery was now heavily impacting recreational surf fishing areas.

George Allen, a RIMFC member, volunteered to mediate a meeting between user groups to discuss the problem and seek solutions. I was appointed to represent our club, also appointed to the panel was RISAA member and surf caster Bob Moeller, a representative from the fish potting community and a local lobsterman both of who set their pots in the affected area.

We all met last night to discuss the issue. I started the meeting by giving a background of the problem and asked the attendees if there was anything they could recommend that might help alleviate the multiple buoy problem. The lobster representative mentioned the explosion of "single pot" setting as more lobstermen and fish potters wanted to fish the same inshore areas. Inshore areas that used to be set with "pot trawls" were now set with multiple "single pots" therefore increasing the amount of buoys. The fish pot member agreed.

They both recommended that the lobster/fish pot fishermen who fish in the affected area start using "pair trawls", which is a two pot string which would allow the pot marker/buoy to be set out further from the shore. Pots set in this fashion would cut the number of buoys by half and increase their distance from the shore.
They would also spread the word to other commercial pot fishermen who set pots in the area affected.

Now I realize this is just a "gentleman's agreement" but it is a start. The pot fishermen did not realize this was an issue and were now aware of our concerns. Our club wanted to avoid the old ways of dealing with gear conflict issues... (just ask any lobsterman how they deal with conflicts.) If no improvement is seen in the future our club will be willing to go the next step by pushing for special area regulations, but for now let's see what happens.

Bob Moeller will be starting the same process to discuss surf fishing areas in Narragansett and South County. I mentioned Watch Hill as one area that needs some action - stay tuned and by all means get involved in the process. If you belong to any fishing club in those areas contact RISAA and let them know you support starting a dialog with local pot fishermen.

DZ

:claps: I am glad to see your first action was that of a gentleman. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.....
:btu:

Thanks, Dennis for initiating action on the problem and seeing it through to a solution that will hopefully resolve the situation for us :kewl:

Thanks too to George and Bob for their work on our behalf - as always, it takes time and effort and it's greatly appreciated!

Dennis - you always impress me with your real world solutions and trying to reach agreement with other groups as "mensch" instead of adversaries. I hope this latest initiative pans out properly :btu:

Thank you,

John

DZ, first of all thanks for your hard work on these types of issues. Can we put in parenthesis next to your name (the diplomat)? Seriously, this give and take of isuues is very demanding and time consuming. Thanks again to you and Bob Moeller from RISAA. In the end I am sure it will work. Be sure to drop me a PM me if you need anything specific that will help.

I am not trying to rain on anyones parade, nor am I trying to be a nay-sayer. I think the approach taken and the mutually agreeable solution is absolutely outstanding. I hope only the best for the fishing in Newport.

But a few thoughts popped into my head that might be useful for future discussions, or even just to clarify my interpretation.

Just curious, but my (very limited) familiarity with trawls or strings of pots, is that there is a buoy on either end. If you are running a 3 string pot, you would loose one buoy, 4 string 2 buoys and so on. So if they are running dual strings, unless they are dropping 1 buoy for each 2 traps, there will not be fewer buoys.

Another observation (with limited knowledge). Wouldn't it be easier for someone harvesting and deploying pots to lay them out parrallel to shore? This could leave less visible buoys, but with more underwater, unseen obstacles.

Not sure if the topic came up or not, but was there any discussion over floating versus sinking lines. I was reading on the water and they discussed the perils of fishing near strings of pots with floating line (perferred for the lack of algae growth and less abrasion while hauling) vs sinking line. If they use strings and use floating line - you may end up with problems with tangles.


Again - I think the effort and agreement are great. Just thinking ahead.

Keeper,
Thanks for your thoughts - they all came up at the meeting. The "pair trawls" that were suggested will use only one buoy and it would be set further out from the shore. Remember the problem is single pot setting so a two pot trawl will have one marker as opposed to two. Floating lines were discussed and apparantly regulations do not allow their use in RI and eventually everywhere in the near future because of the whale problem. If things need tweaking we're prepaired to make alterations.

DZ

D;
Great work as always... if anything comes up for public meeting etc.. let me know I'll be there...
Bryan

I believe what is meant is that so many people are setting single pots with a single buoy, and those persons are most likely recreational lobstermen. I believe the intent here is to have those people set two and three pot lines, which would at the very least spread out the distance between pots if its a two pot set, maybe not though if the pots are tied with about 50 feet of cord. Obviously if the recreational lobster guy is setting ten pots in very close proximity and there are ten buoys, one for each pot, the area is very buoy congested. If that same person sets three pots lines then he'll eliminate three bouys for every ten pots. Most recreational guys pull by hand, so the likelihood of these people doing things differently isn't likely to happen. Very few recreational guys have hydraulic whinches on the boats. Their are other conflicts in this regard also, such as: what direction the local commercial guys lay their lines out. If they usually put out a string north south and now comes a recreational guy who cuts and reties his singles into traps into three and four pot lines and lays the line out east west then I think everyone can figure what will happen next. And what would happen next might be the solution the jetty fishermen are looking for. The commercial guys will haul up inadvertantly the misset lines of pots and be very pissed off at the extra work and cut the lines to the pots and lines sending them to the bottom. I have seen it happen.

I applaud the effort here by one the member of th S-B.com community negotiating on the shore fishermens behalf.

I'll be watching closely and I'm excited at the possibility of fishing spots that have been futile to fish over the past few weeks and also on and off over the past few years.

As of the night before last, there is a buoy that I can reach out and whack with my rod tip in one spot. WAY too close...

Thanks Dennis!

DZ,
Congrats to you and Geroge for trying to work this whole thing out amicably, I was at the RIMFAC meeting when this whole thing first came up.

Dennis, thanks for the continued effort to find some mutual ground and regain some fishing access. Things seemed to get out of hand the last two months or so with many of the best spots congested with pots and buoys. Hope this is something they address relatively soon and not just consider for next year.

Its definitely a good start.

if I catch a large lobster while chunking can I keep it?

I witnessed the ruination of fishing spots first hand in RI this weekend.This is no joke.
Good Luck DZ

Welcome NIB.

Nah it ain't no joke.