Diver lost - Rockport, Massachusetts

[Cruisin Home]

You rarely ever get any details on diving accidents in Massachusetts.
I think the State Police keep it to themselves.

So many divers die up here due to entanglement. No knife or cutting tool.
I usually dive with 3 knives. Amount of lobster traps are ridiculous. Boating hazard.

They could save lives by publicizing this.

 

[Scuba-74]

They could save lives by publicizing this.

They absolutely could.

 

[NoAtlanticMike]

So many divers die up here due to entanglement. No knife or cutting tool.
I usually dive with 3 knives. Amount of lobster traps are ridiculous. Boating hazard.

Not to mention the entanglement hazard we're required to tow around every dive. I forget how much of a pain the dive flag is until I get a chance to dive without it. Task loading is a legitimate risk factor.

 

[Cruisin Home]

Sad thing is most boats ignore the Dive flag. Last time I dove rockport I surfaced and my flag was bouncing against a lobster boat. My wife had been yelling at him to stay away and we had a giant Dive flag from our boat. He just kept mouthing obscenities. It was witnessed from shore by police. We reported it and he was arrested. Judge let him off with suspended sentence. No fine.
Be careful over there. Don’t use heavy line on your flag. I tow mine well away from body.

 

[Brilig]

Are we speculating or do we know he was entangled and by what?

 

[Cruisin Home]

So far we know nothing and probably, given the history of authority in this area, we won’t ever really know.

Several fatalities here have been entanglement, it’s a real hazard in this area.
We were just discussing that as a possibility

 

[Brilig]

Given the fact that the body was found early in the morning the day after he went missing suggests that something kept him from drifting away overnight.
I have not been diving in this location for years. What are the entanglement hazards you mentioned? Lobster gear?

 

[Cruisin Home]

Lobster gear both active and ghost. Plus a large amount of fishing line entangled in fore mentioned gear.

 

[Brilig]

I am getting off topic here but it is estimated that one million lobster traps have been lost in the Gulf of Maine since the advent of plastic coated steel traps. They ghost fish far longer than the old wooden traps before falling apart and they leave behind all that plastic.

 

[Cruisin Home]

I believe it. I hate to see the ghost gear. I always stop and try to open them up.