not so friendly lobsterman in Maine

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by Group9

Here is my take from 28 years of law enforcement experience. What happened here is essentially the equivalent of waterborne road rage. If you don't think this behavior has the potential for the instigator to lose control and try to harm or kill you with no warning, you need to get out of the house more. It happens somewhere, nearly every day.

And, hoping that someone doesn't decide to try and kill or hurt you, is not really a plan.

This was the reference.

[guyrj33]

Originally Posted by Siberian Sea

as I sail through waters some consider to be exclusively their own.

You pretty much define the problem right there, describing the astounding sense of entitlement some commercial fishermen feel.

[markpierce]

I've met an occasional creep but haven't threatened or killed any. Fortunately, haven't met any errant fishermen except for an amateur anchored and fishing in the middle of a narrow channel where we snagged his line and which we promptly returned his hook, minus some line.

[Siberian Sea]

Look people, the Coast Guard, State Troopers or no one else for that matter is going to waist their time or public resources on something like this no matter what you might desire. Now grow up and put your big boy pants on. Makes me wonder how some of you ever make it through your day. What has happened to America? It's become a nation of cry babies.

[weavis]

When a moderator asks to move past a subject on a thread, it is a request to let the thread develop the theme and not be sidetracked by arguments re guns, anchors or religion. These topics are closely monitored by the admin team as they seem to be the ones that cause arguments and aggression.

We have removed posts after the request #46 related to guns. Posters need to follow the C.F. membership rules and the directives of the admin team. Cruisers Forums works best when members and admin work together to enjoy the threads, rather than having to witness argumentation flare up and have to be quelled by thread closure.

CF does not endorse the view of using weaponry to solve boating inconveniences in the USA. People can be asses at times, however, resorting to weapons should not even be thought of as an answer.

Please take this as intended. Move on.

[jtsailjt]

I've been boating along the coast of Maine for over 3 decades and in all those years have only encountered one aggressively rude lobsterman so I don't quite think it's necessary to sail elsewhere or to be too afraid.

I don't think that posting something on Facebook or even reporting him to law enforcement will have much effect. You can't shame someone who is proud of what he did and has probably bragged to his friends about what he did. If you post a video he'll probably link to it so all his friends can see that he wasn't exaggerating.

I once had almost the exact same thing happen to me and the lobsterman came within 2or3 feet of my boat which caused his wake to splash aboard and scare my 2 guests and their baby.

I did nothing at that time but 2 or 3 weeks later when I was once again in the area where he fished, I wrote him an anonymous note and left it taped to one of his buoys in a ziplock bag. The note mentioned that I obviously knew which traps were his but he had no idea which $?@&$! blowboat tourist I was, but actually I was secretly just as big a redneck as he was and if he didn't improve his boating manners towards sailboats he was going to start losing lots of traps on any foggy day I happened to be in the area and that would continue, just occasionally, for years. I thought that would be the most effective approach because it was in language he could understand, and I did mean it.

For those who may not have noticed, each lobsterman has a unique color combo and pattern that is painted on their buoys. Also, they are required to have one of those buoys prominently displayed aboard. So once you know that it's pretty easy to notice the design and color of the offending lobsterboat so you will know just where many thousands of dollars of his unguarded property are located.

[dpddj]

I live in Maine, been enjoying the waters for over 20 years. I know a bunch of watermen - it's not a life I would want. Most are pretty reasonable and a few will give you looks that could kill. But ... I've never had a waterman be overly aggressive. Sounds like you found that one bad apple. There have been incidents where waterman have shot at each other, but that is rare. Yes, I've been wakened many mornings when the sun has barely started to shine and they are going out to tend their traps, but we coexist. We aren't going to change that.
Truth be told, I've seen more idiot boaters on the ICW in one trip than I'll see in a lifetime on the waters of Maine.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

............... I wrote him an anonymous note and left it taped to one of his buoys in a ziplock bag. The note mentioned that I obviously knew which traps were his but he had no idea which $?@&$! blowboat tourist I was, but actually I was secretly just as big a redneck as he was and if he didn't improve his boating manners towards sailboats he was going to start losing lots of traps on any foggy day I happened to be in the area and that would continue, just occasionally, for years. I thought that would be the most effective approach because it was in language he could understand, and I did mean it.............. .

Most states with active commercial fishing, crabbing, lobstering, etc. industries have pretty strict laws concerning tampering with traps or pots. What you are proposing could get you in serious trouble with the law.

Just saying, you do what you have to do.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

Yes, I do realize that taking matters into your own hands is against the law. But sometimes it's either that or nothing will be done at all. Besides, whatever happens when there's only a couple hundred feet of visibility and in dead silence in late afternoon when lobsterman are all back ashore isn't likely to be seen by anyone. I certainly don't make it a habit to take matters into my own hands except as a very last resort, but when someone is acting like these redneck lobstermen did, nearly running me down and endangering those aboard, something needs to make them reconsider their actions before they actually hurt someone. By "almost" running you down they haven't broken any laws so contacting a LEO is nearly pointless and I felt that an anonymous reminder that he also could be vulnerable to lawless activity is about the only way to get through to him. Most lobstermen understand that about each other, that if they mess with another lobsterman or his gear, there WILL be consequences, usually not involving the law, so they generally leave each other alone. But this tiny minority of deliberately rude and reckless lobstermen who nearly run people down are clearly operating under the assumption that yachtsmen would either be afraid of him or would never stoop to getting their own hands dirty, so they assume they can get away with bullying yachtsmen with no consequences, and they're right about that unless you devise some consequences of your own. You can't embarrass a proud redneck for acting like a redneck and if you don't have proof that will stand up in court that they've broken the law, a LEO can't help you. So, as you correctly said, you do whatever you have to do.

Sorry People.

CF is not the place to discuss shooting people or destroying boats and boat equipment.

The world is an unequal place at times...

Thread closed.