MSilvia
Contributor
My other thought would be to print up some anti-poaching stickers that encourage divers to report trap picking and other violations... you know, to generate goodwill.
Anti-Diver Sentiment on Cape Ann
- Thread starter ClassAction
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joeabroad
Contributor
MSilvia:
Excellent idea.
OP
ClassAction
Guest
Last time I was at Magnolia, a lobster boat "buzzed" a couple of divers who were less than 10 feet away. I've seen this happen before, but never this close and this fast. I'd love to see someone video this happening... Just a thought...
MSilvia
Contributor
I guess they just need a catchy name... something like neighborhhood watch, but for lobster divers.joeabroad:
I'm thinking a round red w/white stripe sticker with a silouette of a lobster pot the words "Trap Watch" or something like that, and "Report Lobster Poachers" with the EPO phone number. Proceeds from the sale of stickers could go to the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, in order to help ensure that members recognize that there is a grass-roots movement of local divers who support them.
The whole idea of this ordinance is both preposterous and unenforcable! Unless you can figure out how to be in two places at the same time (on the bottom, and at the surface to see how close you are to a buoy) there is no way to comply. Not to mention who is going to measure the distance? Are the local police going to carry measuring tapes and make you stay in one place so they can measure the distance?
What if you are within 25' and the next wave moves the bouy to 26'. I know I am getting silly but It's all nonsense. I would ignore the whole thing and go on doing what you have always done and not worry about.
What if you are within 25' and the next wave moves the bouy to 26'. I know I am getting silly but It's all nonsense. I would ignore the whole thing and go on doing what you have always done and not worry about.
matt_unique
Guest
My experiences with lobsterman...
I once had a lobster boat steam right over me in 12' of water. I boogied clean and fast to deeper water expecting something to be dropped.
I was diving at the Poling once and a lobsterman approached my boat (with gfriend in bikini on the deck) and asked her if she wanted to take a ride while I was down.
My other negative experience has been as a boater - recreational and commercial. Lobsterman are the worst in terms of right of way rules. It just p*sses me off - I have no problem maintaining course and speed within 15 feet or so of a lobster boat to send a message as long as I don't have passengers aboard.
I have had one positive experience with Lobsterman. I was at Halfway Rock with my boat. I was in the water and about to descend and the captain of the lobster boat politely asked if he could check his traps before I descended. No problem of course....perhaps he was concerned I would steal his catch but in either case I appreciated it and stayed on the surface until he was done.
I think if I had something dropped on/near me I would become psycho if I made it to my boat.....
--Matt
I once had a lobster boat steam right over me in 12' of water. I boogied clean and fast to deeper water expecting something to be dropped.
I was diving at the Poling once and a lobsterman approached my boat (with gfriend in bikini on the deck) and asked her if she wanted to take a ride while I was down.
My other negative experience has been as a boater - recreational and commercial. Lobsterman are the worst in terms of right of way rules. It just p*sses me off - I have no problem maintaining course and speed within 15 feet or so of a lobster boat to send a message as long as I don't have passengers aboard.
I have had one positive experience with Lobsterman. I was at Halfway Rock with my boat. I was in the water and about to descend and the captain of the lobster boat politely asked if he could check his traps before I descended. No problem of course....perhaps he was concerned I would steal his catch but in either case I appreciated it and stayed on the surface until he was done.
I think if I had something dropped on/near me I would become psycho if I made it to my boat.....
--Matt
Dragon2115
Guest
Oh they will issue tickets. Don't forget folks, this is a new potential revenue stream for the town. You can fight the tickets, and I'm sure in some cases we'll win and in others we won't. What they will rely on is we won't fight it because it will be cheaper in the long run to just pay the ticket.
This is a tactic that is used in speed traps that bag out of state motorists, and with propety taxes with out of state owners. They make the fine small or error in the tax bill small enough that it will cost several times that in lost wages, vacation time, travel expenses, etc to fight it. They hope is you'll realize this and just pay it.
This is a tactic that is used in speed traps that bag out of state motorists, and with propety taxes with out of state owners. They make the fine small or error in the tax bill small enough that it will cost several times that in lost wages, vacation time, travel expenses, etc to fight it. They hope is you'll realize this and just pay it.
bhapps24
Guest
matt_unique:
I used to dive with a friend when i was first certified that took lobsters from traps. He is no longer a dive body or a friend because of this. When i asked him not to do it he didnt listen. We had invested in 20 pots and line and bouys. It was worth it to cut my losses and walk away. So i found scubaboard and got better buddys. about two months after I stopped diving with him he got arrested for having twelve shorts. I'm happy to say he is no longer a friend. Just comfirming what we all know there is that 2% out there.
If there were to be an organized attention getter. It would need to be one the papers would print reflecting the (tourist) comunity as unfriendly. such as a weekend of protest carrying signs simply stating diver. and walk around town for the weekend.
The best suggestion is the one for trap watch posted by msilva. That sounds like a worth while one to follow. Do you think the lobstermen would help implement it? giving them some sort of feeling of ownership.
If they were burning crosses or Stars of David, the FBI would be on those guys for hate crimes quicker than snot runs off a schoolboy's sleeve. I'd be curious to get a Justice Dept. take on burning effigies these days.
Well maybe the next time I go diving I'll bring a couple of those fake rubber lobstas with me, and put them into a trap or two. Attatched to the lobstas will be a note,"with love from yur other fellow lobsta hunters."
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