I see why lobsterman hate divers...

[large_diver]

Thanks for the links guys. I always figured it was much more of a trap in the sense that they could walk in but not out at all. Ya learn something every day if you're willing to ask the questions. Thanks again.

Joe

Joe,

Some fun facts about lobster traps from a diver's perspective --

Here in New England, the traps we encounter at recreational diving depths are often deployed in strings of 10 traps, usually with a buoy at each end of the line. The "connecting" line tends to hang 10-15 off of the bottom. With visibility averaging 10 feet and sometimes less around here during the warmer months when traps are being heavily deployed in shallower water, things can get fun when diving from shore with a flag. It's pretty common to swim right under these lines without seeing them...only to feel the flag getting snagged after you've swum by it. Easily solved by swimming back and passing the flag line over the trap line....and then having to do it again on the way back if navigating straight out and back.

I've hard that in deeper water, the strings of traps can get pretty long, sometimes almost a mile long from start to finish with 40-50 traps on the string.

-Chris

 

[Sideband]

That would be a pain, but if they are buoyed you should know to look out for it, right? As I said in my first post I have never had to deal with any of this and I really don't want to get involved in an Us vs Them arguement. I was just looking to learn a bit about the traps because the descriptions were different than I had pictured in my head. I don't mean to dismiss your post and admit I never would have thought about that aspect of the dive. I have the information I was looking for though and am going to slip out without stirring the pot if at all possible.

Joe

 

[Spectre]

That would be a pain, but if they are buoyed you should know to look out for it, right?

Yea, but when you see a site from the surface, and see the amount of buoys out there, you -always- are looking out for them. In shallower dives I'll tend to go up and over them. In deeper dives I might run along the string until I get to the trap, so I don't have to go up and down over them, and can just pass over an intermediate trap in the string. And then you hope that the trap owner isn't above you and get pissed off because you are near his trap.

Someone I'm sure has a good picture of a site. When you see the mess of buoys out there it's revealing enough. Then to understand that a lot of those are 2 buoys in a string of 10, you realize just how many are going to be down there.

 

[ScubaSarus]

I have yet to see anything in writing telling a diver not to touch a ghost trap. I have read quite a bit of our gaming laws. It just hasn't jumped out at me and I have looked for info regarding lobstering regulations.

 

[Spectre]

I have yet to see anything in writing telling a diver not to touch a ghost trap. I have read quite a bit of our gaming laws. It just hasn't jumped out at me and I have looked for info regarding lobstering regulations.

I'm sure it varies from state to state. In massachusetts:

"It is illegal for anyone, except the owner, to handle, destroy or molest any lobster or crab pot or other fishing gear, including any gear swept upon the shore, beaches or flats whether public or private, or to take fish therefrom."

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf/commercialfishing/lobsters.htm#abstracts

 

[RIOceanographer]

I have yet to see anything in writing telling a diver not to touch a ghost trap. I have read quite a bit of our gaming laws. It just hasn't jumped out at me and I have looked for info regarding lobstering regulations.

Here is the RI law:

"Unauthorized Raising of Traps, Pots, and Devices -- No person except the -
Director, enforcement officers, and authorized technical personnel of the Department shall unduly disturb, lift, raise, molest, or remove any animal from a trap, pot, or other such device of a person licensed under this Title, without the written permission of that person. (RIGL 20-4-8) (Penalty 20-1-16 - Part 1.16)"

The law makes no specification over whether the trap has to be buoyed or not.

 

[Riwrecker]

Dumbass.. my buddy was on the boat.

You might want to check the local laws. In massachusetts it's illegal to touch a trap that isn't yours [or someone's who hired you to do salvage it... so you don't pull that 'you're breaking the law also' crap]. FWIW, there's no requirement to have lobster traps marked on the surface. If you have a surface buoy, it has to have your id number and colors. But there is nothing to say it has to have a buoy. We have set traps in very specific places [near a big hole in the hull where we've watched monster sized bugs file in and out of during the night]. A line will just get fouled on the tide change. We drop the trap, lift bag it into place, and retrieve it via scuba. Any tree-hugger that wants to save those lobsters should be smart enough to look and see that it's an actively fished trap.... unless they are a dumbass.

A little context may be in order as well; We used to [at the time that I posted this] zip tie our traps closed. We find those zip ties cut off. We shifted to using steel crimps now, since it's a hell of a lot harder to get those off without the right tool.

Where we keep our traps is notorious for diver interference. it's in 20 feet of water and the water is often in the 70s due to the tidal warming, and it's one of the only interesting things in the area bay-side. It is definately an issue.

Now I'm going to assume you open traps to save the poor lobsters getting caught in ghost traps. Guess what; you're not doing **** to save them, you're actually destroying their habitat. They aren't trapped. You're pulling the roof off their homes.

My ex-wife did her PhD at UNH. One of the projects in their lab was to video lobsters interaction in traps. I spent hours watching video of lobsters entering, eating, and exiting traps. Traps don't trap lobsters, it provides a shelter with food, and it's a matter of finding lobsters in the shelter, not lobsters trapped in a trap. Feel free to watch the video. http://www.lobsters.unh.edu/ultrasonic_tracking/shelter_videos/shelter_videos.html

"made it up". Damn you are a dumbass.

I swim for a minute or so, and I see fins. I get closer, and I see the diver, kneeling in the sand, digging around in the trap. He swims away right then, and had never saw me.

I get to the trap, it's open. I look in. There is one lobster in it. I grab him, measure him, and let him go. I close up the trap, hook up the lift bag, and take it back. Leave it, go for my reel, come back, and bring the trap up.

As I'm on the surface, I ask Bushman "Did you leave the trap open?" "No",

If you realy saw this guy in the trap why would you ask if the trap was left open to your budy. I still think you made up the story and if that makes me a dumbass fine.

 

[Diesel298]

i think your missing his point

 

[Spectre]

If you realy saw this guy in the trap why would you ask if the trap was left open to your budy. I still think you made up the story and if that makes me a dumbass fine.

If a trap is sitting on the bottom open, it's much more likely that a diver might look around in it and not even think twice that they broke the law. Hell, I probably wouldn't have even said anything to him if Matt told me "oh crap, yea, I snipped the zipties and opened the trap". The fact that he hadn't opened the trap screams at intent of the diver. He didn't just happen along a trap and checked it out... he snipped the zip ties, opened it, and took the legal sized lobster that was in it.

That's why I asked if my buddy opened the trap....

... dumbass.

 

[seabulley]

If a trap is sitting on the bottom open, it's much more likely that a diver might look around in it and not even think twice that they broke the law. Hell, I probably wouldn't have even said anything to him if Matt told me "oh crap, yea, I snipped the zipties and opened the trap". The fact that he hadn't opened the trap screams at intent of the diver. He didn't just happen along a trap and checked it out... he snipped the zip ties, opened it, and took the legal sized lobster that was in it.

That's why I asked if my buddy opened the trap....

... dumbass.

Hey spectre your nicer than i am. I would have cut that divers air lines if i saw him in one of my traps. Its funny how we can get all worked up over a lobster. I didnt know that you couldnt salvage pots that where lost by other lobster men. You learn something new every day.