And there's the annual eggnog on the keyboard and monitor to mark the beginning of the holiday season. My best to you and yours subjerk!

*snerk*

/bad subby
//in a good way

Try the veal!

Well done, subby.

You would be amazed the crap you can find on the bottom of the osean.

A buddy and I once spet a great deal of time recovering an "artifact" near a 19c. wreck that turned out to be a 1984 vintage Mac.

"You like my body?"

/first class please.

Thank you for sharing this article -- I love the lobstermen stories.

baka-san: ZING!!!

Sorry me and the BUZZ was stuck in traffic. Did we miss anything?

??

Another fine example of the government exercising its mastery over the Laws of Unintended Consequences.

Msol: ??

Came here for that. Much obliged.

Wow, it's almost like fishermen don't give a crap about fish.

Plenty of crabs last year. Plenty of crabs this year. 1+1=infinity crabs forever.

Well, looks like I'll owe subby a drink at the bar in Hell.

Dances-With-Lobster: Wow, it's almost like fishermen don't give a crap about fish.

Plenty of crabs last year. Plenty of crabs this year. 1+1=infinity crabs forever.

Clearly you have never actually been lobstering. As I have many times let me enlighten you a a bit about how little the lobster men care about their catch.

When they pull up their trap if their is 10 lobsters in it, only 1 or 2 will be kept. Too small, back in, too big back in, has any eggs on it, pull off or notch the tail...that one will never be pulled out of the ocean. Anybody breaking these laws will be chastised if not expelled from their coop, which supplies them with cheap gas and bait. Also it secures them a consistent, albeit low, dock price. That's why lobster numbers have increased dramatically the last decade. Keep your ignorance to your self.

Ah, abandoned fishing gear. Loved picking up a couple of dump truck loads of plastic buoys off the beaches of Wake twice a year. That stuff floats around for years then the nets get caught in the reefs. It isn't ghost traps, but just as fun.

/Do like finding old glass floats though

The bodies dumped wearing concrete shoes haven't hurt the lobster either.

Maybe materials science can solve this one; like make a trap that the corners are held together by polymer snap links that degrade in salt water over 3 month - if lost the trap simply falls apart.

one of Ripley's Bad Guys: Maybe materials science can solve this one; like make a trap that the corners are held together by polymer snap links that degrade in salt water over 3 month - if lost the trap simply falls apart.

They have that already. They mention them in the article, and say that they don't always work. As I have had to fix them half way through the season many times because they always degrade prematurely, I cannot attest that they don't work.

likesass: The bodies dumped wearing concrete shoes haven't hurt the lobster either.

those are dinner for lobsters

one of Ripley's Bad Guys: Maybe materials science can solve this one; like make a trap that the corners are held together by polymer snap links that degrade in salt water over 3 month - if lost the trap simply falls apart.

I spent a summer salmon fishing in Alaska, and learned a little bit. The inhabited portion of Kodiak Island is a wasteland of stored commercial fishing gear. The crab pots there are outlined with steel, but all the webbing is made of biodegradable line, so if they're lost, you just have a steel rectangle left. I think the line is cotton. I'm pretty sure that it's illegal there to use a crab pot that has anything other than biodegradable line for webbing.

"The anus is unremarkable..."

//Got nothin'
/Don't litter
///Mandating less-durable lines seems stupid. Typical for government.

Anna Nicole Smith had a penis?

I stand corrected.

2005: Bottom survey shows square sonar returns - could be derelict traps
2006: Study confirms: square sonar returns are derelict traps
2007: New study finds that there are many derelict traps
2008: Newer study finds that the traps still catch and kill crabs and fish
2009: Latest study finds that derelict traps kill LOTS of crabs and fish
2010: Hey!! Where did all the crabs go?

Awesome subby, +1

/Coach, but hoping for an upgrade

Fishermen and farmers share the belief that doing something the wrong way enough times automatically makes it the right way.

How deep are they? Are they recoverable? This would be a great idea for some shameless do-gooderism for do-gooders with nitrox certs and dry suits.

/Why yes, I do
//and I can bum a dry suit.

My question: why the HELL is Kansas City doing a piece on the ocean? They're the FARTHEST AWAY from it you can get in this country!

fireclown: How deep are they? Are they recoverable? This would be a great idea for some shameless do-gooderism for do-gooders with nitrox certs and dry suits.

/Why yes, I do
//and I can bum a dry suit.

Why spring for Nitrox? Recovery would be cheap and cheerfull on plain air.

scifinut: My question: why the HELL is Kansas City doing a piece on the ocean? They're the FARTHEST AWAY from it you can get in this country!

It's an AP story; probably filler for the middle of the paper...

Because who knows more about coastal Maine stories like Kansas?

I think it would be a cool publicity thing for someone, like maybe Red Lobster or Joes Crabshack or something, to make a big deal about sponsoring a dive day where hobbyist divers could go and clean up the traps and then have a big seafood dinner together afterwards as thanks. The company could sponsor the filling the air tanks (or something like that, I'm not a diver) and the food for the after party. They could probably write it off as advertising or if they did it in cooperation with an environmental organization they could probably write it off as charity. Win/Win