[Rick Huggins]

What's the general consensis on grabbing a lobster/crab for the pot?

I've never dived UK seas and fancy the idea of taking one for the pot if I find one, providing it is ok to do so at the dive site!

So what's the score, how do you go about grabbing one, as I've heard their fast little critters?

Wot's a podger? (In diving terms), as I know what one is in rigging terms (OOer King Dick)  

Ta

 

[Richie]

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I used to take them but came off the idea as I realised how rare they had become in some/most areas.
However if you are going to take one; watch out for the claws, make sure that it is a reasonable size (I don't recall the legal minimum - you could ask a local fisherman I suppose  

), not too big - too chewey, that it is not carrying eggs, and that the shell is not soft having just moulted -too wet and tasteless.
The final question is whether the dark blue glint at the back of the hole is a nice lobster or a pissed off conger.
And then you have to cook it...................

 

[Rick Huggins]

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Fair one!

 

[Dave Crampton]

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<font color='#000080'>I'd go with what Richie(2) said. I'm suspisious about asking local fishermen though as I'd have thought they want they for themselves. I've heard stories about fishermen blaming divers for taking lobsters from pots and also tampering with dive boats. I do have to admit to having never taken a Lobster and never talked to Fishermen. I do know divers who have taken them. Having cooked and eaten crab I'd refrain in future as crabs are more trouble than they are worth for my liking. I'd rather buy a crab. I have picked up a couple of Scallops though and they are very tasty and the diveboat skipper showed us how to open them correctly.

My opinions and I'm sure others disagree.

Happy hunting

p.s. there are plenty of lobsters on the east coast dives, Dunbar and St Abbs being two I've dived this year.

 

[MATTBIN]

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Podger - AIUI, bloody great hook thing for hauling the poor animal out from a hole it thought it was safe in.
You might have opened the can of worms again, as many on here will take from the Sea and many will not. Some even go to the lengths of not diving with 'killers'. I prefer my buddy to take only memories, in the words of Padi.
Up to you, but, as Richie says they are becoming rare in certain areas, why not just leave it alone as I shouldnt think you'll not get much sympathy if it removes a finger or two and you'll give the following divers something nice to look at.

Matt

ps - isnt St. Abbsa conservation area

 

[Rick Huggins]

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Dave,

Then it's settled, St Abbs here I come.

Must remember to take claymore mines, HKMP5K and FBS  

I quite fancy one for Hogmonay, but will make that decision as and when.

TBH, I'd much rather see them in their own invironment than in a pot in my kitchen!

 

[Dave Crampton]

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Quote[/b] (Frogman @ Dec. 11 2003,13:05)]Dave,

Then it's settled, St Abbs here I come.

Must remember to take claymore mines, HKMP5K and FBS  

.....

<font color='#000080'>Ok so I knoe what a claymore mine is.. ooh nasty, Yes a Heckler & Koch MP5 K, not bad but I'm stumped with FBS. Does that stand for Fishy Boat Service?

 

[Dr Stevil]

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For the record, St Abbs is a, nay, was the first Marine Reserve in this country
Founded in 1984 after much work by David Bellamy,  it is strictly forbidden for divers to take ANYTHING, I for one wouldn't hesitate to intervene if I saw someone trying to grab a lobster at Abbs or to bring the wrath of the harbour master to bear on anyone sneaking away with one from the carpark.

As I've said a dozen times before on these board and elsewhere, I categorically will not dive with anyone who wants to behave this way, and that's non-negotiable. Same as I wouldn't go fell walking with someone laying rabbit snares or shooting pheasants/grouse.

This is one area where I really wish BSAC (and SSAC too) would take the lead from PADI and insist that divers take only memories and leave only bubbles (or whatever).

 

[Rick Huggins]

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Rather primative actually, a Ferkin Big Stick, FBS !

Quote[/b] ]I categorically will not dive with anyone who wants to behave this way, and that's non-negotiable.

[/QUOTE]Some even go to the lengths of not diving with 'killers'.

I'm absolutley astonished that there be so much emotion behind these views albeit there are only a few replys so far.

I only hope I haven't opened an old can of worms!

 

[John Gulliver]

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Quote[/b] (Frogman @ Dec. 11 2003,14:35)]I'm absolutley astonished that there be so much emotion behind these views albeit there are only a few replys so far.

I only hope I haven't opened an old can of worms!

You have! This one's been done to death. Yiu're flogging a dead horse. The vote last time was about equal between those who never take anything, those who do occasionally take stuff but didn't really think it was OK and those who thought everything God (or whoever it was) put in the ocean is fair game if it tastes nice, if I remember correctly.

 

[nitrox]

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<font color='#0000FF'>respecting all local bylaw's etc....if u want to take one!....do so. they are pretty hard to catch if they slip their lair, you wopuldnt believe how fast that tail propell's them along.

i usualy try and get them from above by grabbing the carapace, therefor avoiding the sharp blade's on the tail segment's and usually avoiding the claw's.

although i alway's take the precaution of 5mm kevlar gauntlet's when i'm picking.

only take what you want for the pot that day, and dont take the piss on size.
the thing's that you see in the sloopymarket are rediculous!!!
i would never take a lobby of such size as there aint enough in them to warrant the chase and effort.

i once stood in babbacombe carpark de-kitting, my goody bag was on the floor by the van containing two 3/4lb lobby's and a couple of BIG!! crab's.

i was approached by a woman diver in her 50's who started  to have a pop....i asked her where she came from....brum she said!!..now as i reside in devon, it's my manor!! so i aint avin any raving zakky yam yam tellin me what i cant do yeah!!

i politely asked her if she had a garden?...yes she said.
do you have any fruit tree's in yer garden?.....no she said.

if you did?....would you still buy your apple's and the like at tesco's??

point proved!!
 

respect for marine reserve's and no take zone's like lundy is a must, but a certain cornwall beach who think's he own's the sealife because he own's the beach can fcuk right off mate.

go's to show how much diving he doe's....there's naff all there anyway!!....muppet.

if you wnt some catching tip's...drop me a PM.

regard's

trox

 

[Dr Stevil]

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One of our Red Sea (PADI trained) dive buddies from the recent trip, who was until recently completely unfamiliar with UK diving, was equally gobsmacked to discover that (some) UK divers do actually take animals! And before the inevitable and irrelevant question arises, no this isn't some veggie type diver this is someone who has fairly carnivous tastes.

Kudos to PADI warm-water diver training! (Ye Godz! don't tell the BSAC council, I'll be excommunicated

)

 

[nitrox]

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<font color='#0000FF'>i just simply can't understand why some people find it ok to pop to tesco's and spend hard earned dough on scallop, bass, and lobby that are of shite quality and size and are far inferior to anything you may spear or bag yerself.

it's simply a case of cutting out the middlemen!
and christ wouldnt we all like to be able to do that a little more often.

hug all the kelp you like....there's no feed like a free feed!!

especially when you have bagged it yerself!!

now where did i put that bear trap??  

regard's

trox

 

[MATTBIN]

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Trox,
I dont buy Lobbies, crabs or Scallops, nor do I catch them and I dont have a major problem with those that do on the proviso that the stocks dont get wiped out and the killing is humane, whatever that might be.

If something is wrong it doesnt make it right if I do it, does it.

I'm not looking for a ruck, if you want to catch stuff well go ahead and do it, but if I want to release stuff then I have that right too, yes?

Matt

 

[722]

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Quote[/b] (Steve W @ Dec. 11 2003,13:57)](Ye Godz! don't tell the BSAC council, I'll be excommunicated

)

Would it make any difference? How would you tell?  

A letter after a while  maybe

Adrian

 

[Mark Chase]

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Yes I eat meet
Yes I eat Fish
Yes I eat Shellfish


Yes I took a lobster and a crab on Saturday and ate them Saturday night. They were lovely. On Sunday I ate the liver of a freshly shot deer. Very reminiscent of Bamby from what I saw hanging up in the garage but minus the head and entrails of course. (M8 shot it not me but I would have given the chance). Yes I have shot and eaten rabbit, pheasant and pidgin. I even snared a rabbit once when I was in the air cadets.

Yes I think they taste better when you catch them yourself. Yes it is probably a hunter-gatherer man thing but that’s what I was born as and I have no plans to put a skirt on just yet.

If your a veggie or don’t eat meet / seafood for religious reasons then I fully respect your beliefs.

If you do eat meet / shellfish but prefer it shrink-wrapped then don’t bother preaching to me I’m not interested.

On Saturday the dive boat with 14 divers on came back with two crabs one lobster and some scallops. Have you ever seen a crab fishing boat? They come back with hundreds. I doubt if one dive boat in a year brings in as much as one crab / lobster fishing boat in a week.

If anything I am the opposite too most in that I will catch and eat scallops but wont eat commercially fished scallops. I have never caught a cod but if I could I would and I wont eat commercially fished cod.

Each to his / her own on this issue me thinks.

Mark Chase

 

[nitrox]

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Quote[/b] (MATTBIN @ Dec. 11 2003,14:36)]Trox,
I dont buy Lobbies, crabs or Scallops, nor do I catch them and I dont have a major problem with those that do on the proviso that the stocks dont get wiped out and the killing is humane, whatever that might be.

If something is wrong it doesnt make it right if I do it, does it.

I'm not looking for a ruck, if you want to catch stuff well go ahead and do it, but if I want to release stuff then I have that right too, yes?

Matt

<font color='#0000FF'>Matty,

of course you do mate!...and i aint stated otherwise.

believe it or not!...every now and then i actually dive our local harbour wall's and spend hour's of my time cutting such marinelife free from the masse's of angler's line littering the bottom of our local bay's, so that they may roam another day.

i am actually very conservation minded and would jump upon anyone who took the piss.
i once walked round haldon pier (TORQUAY HARBOUR) and there was this !"*! of a grockle muppet proudly showing off his catch of a lobby that probably contained about six ounce's of flesh and was juvenille to say the least.

you can only imagine what i said, let's just say the diver concerned was left very embarrased and the lobby found a new home off the edge of beacon cove.

at the end of the day man was born the "hunter" civilisation as we call it has slowed this curve. i am damned if i can see why some people think it's ok to buy a crab from j sainsbury but it's evil to pick yer own.

i'm not slagging you matt!...what's good for you is cool by me.

but surely you see my point??

as mark just sated...ive also shot deer and slaughtered it along with rabbit, grouse, pheasant, goat, crocodile, chimpanzee, several specie's of snake and iguanna not forgetting freshwater crab from jungle river's.

doe's that make me a bad person??

not in my book.  

regard's

trox

 

[nitrox]

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<font color='#0000FF'>matty!

having just read the thread in full where you refer to diver's such as i as "killers"

ok, so all the BS about hk's and claymore's is just rant!
he probably aint ever seen an HK let alone handled one.

so if i'm a killer!! your telling me you dont eat anything that's been killed yeah??

what an interesting life you must lead dude  

being an eco loving kelp/tree hugging politically correct lesbian warrior is fine.

how many can's of tuna you got in yer kitchen??

what about all those poor chicken's you devour that spent week's in small confine's so they could have nice tender breast's? and all for matty the "non killer"

to take from st abb's would be a bad thing to do, sure!

but dont start all this "killer" rant. man was born with the skill to hunt to feed his face and there's nowt wrong with that.

if i ever saw you taking the livelihood from an angler's pot's in devon you would get the same verbal slapping as you would for illegal picking.

get a grip.

trox  

 

[Sean]

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Quote[/b] (MATTBIN @ Dec. 11 2003,14:36)]but if I want to release stuff then I have that right too, yes?

Matt

Action of this kind just causes problems for other divers..  Most of my diving is done on the south coast, in the Selsey area..  We have one site where there is an un-written law of don’t touch and don’t take and that’s the Mullbery and one skipper states if you bring anything up you swim back..  Now those of you that dive the site will admit it a great dive, and this works well and is respected by all who dive there

The problem was last year we had an “eco loving kelp/tree hugging politically correct lesbian warrior”  who liberated the lobster pots around the site.  We never found out who this person was, but all they did was cause a lot of hostility between fisherman and divers and yes it was a diver because all the pot were cut to shreds.  
Any other site then yes if you see one then fine I can’t see a problem with bringing one up as long as it not small and with eggs, (have you ever tasted Selsey crab).

 

[MATTBIN]

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Quote[/b] ]
having just read the thread in full where you refer to diver's such as i as "killers"

'killers' in quotes - light hearted comment

Quote[/b] ]
so if i'm a killer!! your telling me you dont eat anything that's been killed yeah??

Not at all

Quote[/b] ]
what an interesting life you must lead dude  

depends on the individuals definition, different strokes for different folks etc.

Quote[/b] ]
being an eco loving kelp/tree hugging politically correct lesbian warrior is fine.

I dont think that would define me.

Quote[/b] ]
how many can's of tuna you got in yer kitchen??

what about all those poor chicken's you devour that spent week's in small confine's so they could have nice tender breast's? and all for matty the "non killer"

Hate Tuna, free range chickens only in our house  - they taste so much better than battery jobs.

Quote[/b] ]
to take from st abb's would be a bad thing to do, sure!

but dont start all this "killer" rant. man was born with the skill to hunt to feed his face and there's nowt wrong with that.

Wasnt a rant, I said I agreed with it so long as those doing it were skilled, sadly Townies on a day trip with a gun rarely are.

Quote[/b] ]
if i ever saw you taking the livelihood from an angler's pot's in devon you would get the same verbal slapping as you would for illegal picking.

even if it was in berry or very small?
Ok you have a point about it upsetting local agreements, but is it so bad we upset a few local fisherman, when they upset us by mass slaugher re: Cornwall - porbeagles, or is this always going to be one sided. They wont get upset so long as we dont ruin their stuff but they can ruin ours. Bit one sided isnt it?

Quote[/b] ]
get a grip.

I'm perfectly OK thanks.

Matt