NAVIGATION
Gone to pot
Q When will something be done about pot markers?
On a cruise west from Gosport this May, I estimated that around 1% of pot markers met legal requirements. Sailing round Portland Bill, with the usual confused wind and narrow inshore passage, I was obliged to use my motor and I found dodging the huge number of markers–none of which were large, colourful, labelled or flagged–a frightening experience.
At Start Point, I was finally caught out by two small markers covered in weed with a line between them on the surface, neither of which I saw until the boat was lifted the next day to free the prop.
As the ebb tide ranSending a £2m lifeboat with eight crew out to save a fisherman the bother of spending a fiver to mark his pot does not seem an optimum strategy. Fishermen have failed to police themselves. The legislation clearly needs to be enforced.
