The UK's Cruising Association is expanding its campaign against poorly marked lobster pots and other static fishing gear, an issue which has also prompted renewed safety warnings and reporting appeals for sailors in Irish waters.
New campaign flyers and pocket-sized cards are being made available free to yacht clubs, marinas, harbour offices, chandleries, yacht brokers and training centres as part of the association’s Lobster Pot Campaign.
The initiative carries the message “Marked Gear = Safe Gear” and aims to encourage sailors and other boat users to report entanglements and sightings of poorly marked static fishing gear.
50 entanglements reported
Over the 12 months to September 2026, 50 entanglements and 107 sightings of poorly marked static fishing gear were reported through the Royal Yachting Association’s reporting system, according to the Cruising Association. Two minor crew injuries were also recorded.
The RYA has been publishing anonymised reports and mapping incidents since September 2025 as part of efforts to establish where problems are occurring.
The Cruising Association says each additional report helps establish the scale and geographical distribution of the problem and strengthens the evidence available to regulators.
The campaign is seeking to have existing UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency voluntary guidance on marking static fishing gear made mandatory and enforceable.
It stresses that the initiative is not opposed to fishing, but aims to address marking practices that can make pots, creels and associated ropes difficult for other vessels to detect.
Irish sailors urged to report gear
The issue is particularly relevant for Irish sailors. As Afloat reported in July, Irish Sailing renewed its call for sailors to report floating and poorly marked fishing gear, including near misses and sightings as well as actual entanglements.
Irish Sailing has been working with the RYA to report incidents involving fouled propellers and saildrives, as well as concentrations of potentially hazardous pots and nets around the Irish coast.
The risks were demonstrated in May when a yacht off Rush Harbour became fouled on fishing gear, requiring the assistance of Skerries RNLI. The lone sailor's yacht had fouled its rudder on a line from a lobster pot.
Afloat has also previously reported a near-miss involving fishing gear in the St George's Channel, highlighting how an encounter can leave a yacht without effective propulsion or manoeuvrability.
Long-running safety issue
The problem is not new. The Cruising Association has campaigned on static fishing gear for several years, with Afloat reporting on its lobster pot safety campaign as far back as 2018.
In Ireland, the Department of Transport has also repeatedly reminded pot fishers to use ropes and marker buoys correctly. Its guidance warns that excessive rope lengths can float on or just below the surface and foul a vessel even when it passes some distance from the marker buoy.
The department's advice on the proper use of marker buoys and ropes also cautions against unsuitable or poorly visible floats.
The Cruising Association is now asking clubs, marinas and other marine organisations to display its new campaign material to increase awareness and encourage further reporting.
