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Old 06-15-2020, 02:50 PM   #28
Alisske
Senior Member
 
City: Northport
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 371
I commercially fished lobster boats growing up and through college the most dangerous thing on commercial loster boats is getting caught in the lines and being dragged over board.

My job, always being the least senior, was to be in the back of the boat, taking the traps back (there are lines of 8-12 pots on each “string” of pots.) that sit on the tunnels of the boat. In between each of the pots sitting on the gunnels, there is anywhere from 50-200 feet of line attaching the posts together. Depending on the depth, there is another 250foot line on the lead and last pot on the line that runs to the surface. With a 10 pot string with 100 feet between pots, that’s 1500 feet of line flaked all over the back of the boat, with the ropes typically under a few inches of water to obscure the view. (See graphic for what a sting of pots looks like)

When you want to put the pots back in the water, the captain will “lay a course” and yell “pots in” when we are all lined up. At that point, I would throw the surface line and bouy n the water and then push the first pot over and try to stay the hell out of the other pots and lines when they naturally ripped off the deck into the water. Depending on how busy we were, or how shitty the seas were, sometimes they would be ripping off the deck fast.

Now with all that line flakes underwater on the deck, the rolling seas, and being on 15 hour shifts, it was a real joy. And I personally have known local friend who was pulled of deck and no one has seen him since. Not a godamn sound out of him. Just gone. The captain turned around and he was gone with the string. It happens and everyone is constantly thinking about it,, no matter how many years you work on the boat

That being said, you plot will certainly involve rope and the fact of how godamn dangerous it is on any boat, lmao. It could be as simple as one of the other hands simply flaking a line “behind” the stern guy without him noticing it. If you wanted to be dramatic and have them show up in the trawl net, well, that’s a plot option too. That would be a horrible way to go, get drown and battered around at 3-4 knots. And engine that knows anything about trawls realizes once your in that net, your not coming out. Game over.

Just my 2cents.
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