Lobster/Fish Pot Bouys in Surf Fishing Areas - An Update

[JohnR]

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

Thank you,

John

[Springtides]

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.

[Iwannakeeper]

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.

[DZ]

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

[RIROCKHOUND]

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

[Swimmer]

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.

[Pete_G]

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!

[MakoMike]

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.

[In The Surf]

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.

[basswipe]

Its definitely a good start.

[Johnny C]

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