High Tech Ropeless Lobster Traps

[Captinlon]

Going to be a chit show when some out of towner goes into some area to set an anchor for the night and goes to hall it up the next day. It's a mine field getting out of my area.

 

[Kiteboy]

how ya going to haul gear when there are 10 guys on top of you ?? You might be the whiz kid tuna fishing but ya don't know much about the commercial fishing biz.

Lol i still have lots to learn rod and reel fishing along with lobstering, I am sure they will try to figure out a way with gps trackers or something.

Not to be confused but I am most definitely on the fisherman’s side of this arugremnt.

 

[aweigh again]

Also don’t forget the lengths the lobstermen have already gone to to make the ocean safer for the right whale. Increasing traps per string, eliminating float rope, whale safe links and etc. It’s not like the lobstermen haven’t been compliant and cooperative. Enough is enough and it is time to fight back.

the safe links in the rope aren't enough?

 

[aweigh again]

Not a lobster guy here , but it seems it would take a small or large fortune to buy enough electronic devices to be able to comply.Plus all traps would have to have some kind of transmitter that would show up on everyone's electronics,so you could see where pots were already set. Looks like an overwhelming senario to me.

 

[aweigh again]

Not a lobster guy here , but it seems it would take a small or large fortune to buy enough electronic devices to be able to comply.Plus all traps would have to have some kind of transmitter that would show up on everyone's electronics,so you could see where pots were already set. Looks like an overwhelming senario to me.

 

[CCtuna]

Go hauling in area 1 from September-January and tell me how this is gonna work. Clowns. 20+ trap trawls and boats from all 3 states fishing the same bottom. It’s a shit show already with buoys. It will not work, only conceivable way it’ll work is if you can see everyone else string on your machine and huge government reimbursement for gear associated with it. I have a better chance of banging Jennifer Anniston then either of those happening. Also, no right whale deaths that can be pinned on GOM lobster gear so the fact that this is even a discussion is a non starter.

 

[Kiteboy]

the safe links in the rope aren't enough?

I absolutely hate the pink/red bouy lines, that color paint is all over all of my cloths and my skins.

 

[aweigh again]

Go hauling in area 1 from September-January and tell me how this is gonna work. Clowns. 20+ trap trawls and boats from all 3 states fishing the same bottom. It’s a shit show already with buoys. It will not work, only conceivable way it’ll work is if you can see everyone else string on your machine and huge government reimbursement for gear associated with it. I have a better chance of banging Jennifer Anniston then either of those happening. Also, no right whale deaths that can be pinned on GOM lobster gear so the fact that this is even a discussion is a non starter.

dumb and dumber movie, question, what are the chances a guy like me can make it with a girl like you? answer, about 1 in a million. reply, so, you are telling me there is a chance

 

[backman]

Chiming back in after watching pigs swim today! Anything’s possible….

The point about private investors funding green to drive up the cost of entry is well stated. The wind sea floor grab is part of this play also. I listened to the guy who bought a prime Cape Marina 25 years back for 3x it’s value brag about investing in businesses with huge barriers to entry and long runways to profitability as a means of keeping competition out. His family business - coal, his net worth back then was billion’s back when a billionaire was a big thing, , his timeline - generational.

lobsterings not my industry, not even my interest but it’s a part of my New England cultural fabric even though my immigrant family roots were shoe factories, not seafood. I’d hate to see the fabric of the New England coastal lifestyle ground down and gentrified even further. I grew up in the 60’s listening to my grandfathers generation bemoaning the lost shoe industry, the lost jobs, the lost culture and identity.

I am on your side,crapping on those who understand and agree with your side of the cultural and economic battle is not where you should be spending your ammo. Read this thread, you’re all complaining about a problem, rather than fighting technology being proposed to solve the problem, figure how to solve the problem versus being ground to nothing by big business and investors happy to throw money at the problem to take control of yet another seafood market.

 

[Capecodfisherman]

Personally I think one the biggest concerns are the mobile gear guys. Some don’t care now, imagine what it’s like when you can’t see it. The whole thing is BS and should even be considered. I know at one point they were considering wire instead of rope for the gillnet fisheries. Idk if that idea took off or not.

 

[John Hobby]

Well you know that nobody making these rules fishes gear!!!

 

[Propwash]

Absolutely will not work. Any comments saying it will obviously have not fished for lobsters or been on a lobster boat. Just a money making scheme for someone. If I am going to set lobster gear and can’t see bouys to know if any other fishermen are there it would be one big mess.

Doesn't stop all the dudes in Jericho Bay....you could hop from Swans to Isle Au Haut on the density of buoys. Anybody thinking those guys give a rats ass about setting gear on top of other gear needs to wake up.

 

[Diesel Jerry]

Doesn't stop all the dudes in Jericho Bay....you could hop from Swans to Isle Au Haut on the density of buoys. Anybody thinking those guys give a rats ass about setting gear on top of other gear needs to wake up.

Is it trawl strings or pairs and singles?

 

[Propwash]

Is it trawl strings or pairs and singles?

F if I know. I'm no lobster fisherman nor do I want to be. With that many buoys in the water, even if they are singles, they are all over each other. I've been traversing those waters for 3 decades and it just keeps getting worse every year. I've started avoiding anything around Stonington and out towards MDI because the likelihood of winding up in gear (multiple times) is pretty much guaranteed now.

 

[Diesel Jerry]

F if I know. I'm no lobster fisherman nor do I want to be. With that many buoys in the water, even if they are singles, they are all over each other. I've been traversing those waters for 3 decades and it just keeps getting worse every year. I've started avoiding anything around Stonington and out towards MDI because the likelihood of winding up in gear (multiple times) is pretty much guaranteed now.

Well with singles you really can’t set over someone. Pairs you can but it’s only a 2 traps and easy to get out of.
If you have never been on a lobsterboat it’s easy to get confused by all that gear. On strings there is a north end (bigger bouy or a flag) and south end (small bouy no flag) I would bet it’s not as much chaos on the bottom as it is on the top.

 

[Roccus7]

I look at traversing the buoys as a challenge. As I slowly approach the harbor entrance I feel like a slalom skier in the starting hut, figuring the approach to use when I slam the hammer down, with a Beep-Beep-Beep in the background...

 

[Downrigga]

I would advise you to take a day and go out on a lobster boat before you comment on this. People have no clue what’s involved in lobster fishing. Believe me if it only involved just one person fishing an area it might work but that’s not how it works. Tell me how you are you supposed to know you are not setting lobster gear on top of someone else if you can’t see their bouys people set over top of you even when they can see buoys. Think about it.

I don't think you paid attention to what Larry said. Not tomorrow certainly but someday, maybe. Maybe we will develop tech were we wont have to see the buoy. How do they not lay over each other crab fishing in the bearing sea? I have no idea but they don't seem too and I know this is not the same thing but thinking outside the box might lead to something that keeps lobsterman fishing. I think he brings up a really good point about an AIS TAG on every whale. Every boat can pick up an AIS signal for short money.

 

[Downrigga]

We need new bumper stickers and tee shirts that say.....FUCK 10 KNOTS

 

[steveinak]

I don't think you paid attention to what Larry said. Not tomorrow certainly but someday, maybe. Maybe we will develop tech were we wont have to see the buoy. How do they not lay over each other crab fishing in the bearing sea? I have no idea but they don't seem too and I know this is not the same thing but thinking outside the box might lead to something that keeps lobsterman fishing. I think he brings up a really good point about an AIS TAG on every whale. Every boat can pick up an AIS signal for short money.

they fish singles in most of the crab fisheries. They have to deal with married up(twisted) buoy lines if they set on top of each other.

 

[traditions]

Well with singles you really can’t set over someone. Pairs you can but it’s only a 2 traps and easy to get out of.
If you have never been on a lobsterboat it’s easy to get confused by all that gear. On strings there is a north end (bigger bouy or a flag) and south end (small bouy no flag) I would bet it’s not as much chaos on the bottom as it is on the top.

Illegal to fish more than three traps to a single buoy east of Zone E