SailorGreg
Senior Member
We were running up the gulf stream south of Hatteras last week and came up on fields of fishing buoys riding the current. Many of them had AIS transmitters that broadcast their battery voltage. But many did not and they didnt show up on radar. There was a mother ship in the area.
At times there would be 4-5 in sight at one time and were very hard to see until the last minute. I would not want to get entangled with one of these while we were 100 miles out. I have no idea what the intended catch was, or if there were any hazzards from nets below or lines between them.
My question is, is this sort of fishing regulated? And if so by whom? Can anybody put floating buoys out at sea? I am sort of used to dodging traps south of Long Island in the canyon areas but this is the first time I saw all this in the gulf stream. And I thought I could relax a bit out there.
At times there would be 4-5 in sight at one time and were very hard to see until the last minute. I would not want to get entangled with one of these while we were 100 miles out. I have no idea what the intended catch was, or if there were any hazzards from nets below or lines between them.
My question is, is this sort of fishing regulated? And if so by whom? Can anybody put floating buoys out at sea? I am sort of used to dodging traps south of Long Island in the canyon areas but this is the first time I saw all this in the gulf stream. And I thought I could relax a bit out there.