Are trap buoys without names free game?

If it is not your trap leave it alone. Playing vigilante fish cop checking other peoples floats will end up causing you some problems. Unless something has changed, the regs. do not clearly state that names and phone numbers are required. Only names are required although your phone # may not be a bad idea if the trap were lost.


You need to have your name and phone number it’s in the regs...
https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/crab-crabe-eng.html


Lines and buoys
  • All shellfish traps must be marked with a floating tag or buoy that has your name on it
  • Use highly visible buoys, large enough to stay afloat in tides and currents in your fishing area. Only 1 name can appear on the buoy attached to your trap(s). Names and phone numbers must be legible and visible (at least 7.5 cm high)
  • Do not use: Gear marked with another fisher’s name. Avoid plastic jugs, bottles and Styrofoam blocks that may deteriorate or sink, or are hard to see or marked.
 
You need to have your name and phone number it’s in the regs...
https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/crab-crabe-eng.html


Lines and buoys
  • All shellfish traps must be marked with a floating tag or buoy that has your name on it
  • Use highly visible buoys, large enough to stay afloat in tides and currents in your fishing area. Only 1 name can appear on the buoy attached to your trap(s). Names and phone numbers must be legible and visible (at least 7.5 cm high)
  • Do not use: Gear marked with another fisher’s name. Avoid plastic jugs, bottles and Styrofoam blocks that may deteriorate or sink, or are hard to see or marked.

Everybody is aware of the regs who has chimed in. ;) The regs are not breaking news. Not everybody on the water abides by the regs or knows the regs........I don't think it gives you the right to go and pull it unless you are a DFO official.

If someone leans their bicycle up against a street sign and it doesn't have a license.....is it now yours?

What if someone ties their dog up briefly without tags on it......it is against Vancouver bylaws to do that but would you take their dog?
 
I read that as under the first bullet you must have your name on the float and under the 2nd bullet the lettering displayed on floats must be legible and a minimum size vertically so that it is easy to read, including for a phone number, if you choose to put it on the float. Bullet #2 does not speak to what must be printed on the float as bullet #1 does, but rather is a modifier of how what is printed is displayed and to the physical quality of the float. If floats were required to have a phone number on it in addition to a name, it would be included with the name as a must, under bullet #1. A very small percentage of licensed anglers may not even have a phone number to place on the trap float and some pay fees to keep their phone # unlisted for privacy and security and may not want to display it to the whole world. It is not yet a legal requirement in our society for all citizens to have a phone number or an E-mail address for that matter. It does add confusion however, to mention Phone numbers in Bullet #2. Not the best wording by DFO. Perhaps they should clean it up as rules like this should not be ambiguous but rather clearly and precisely crafted. If phone numbers are required they should be included under Bullet #1. If they are simply recommended, that should be stated. That said, I do put my phone number on my floats with the hope that having it there would facilitate the traps return, should it be lost.
 
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Follow the link I provided even has a picture clearly shows a phone number and it is under the heading lines and Buoys.



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Follow the link I provided even has a picture clearly shows a phone number and it is under the heading lines and Buoys.
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Like I said.....we are ALL aware of the regs. You don't need to keep posting references to them. o_O

The question at hand is if you see an unmarked float is it fair game to pull it up and take it home? :confused: Read the first post or the entire thread and you'll see.


Okay.....now feel free to post up another snippet of the regs or if you feel it necessary you can start a "Here is how to label your prawn and crab floats" thread. This thread is about whether or not you as a recreational fisherman or boater should feel entitled to pull up traps with no names on them. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
No tags on this......would you take it? I sure wouldn't.....that call is up to enforcement officers.

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Follow the link I provided even has a picture clearly shows a phone number and it is under the heading lines and Buoys.



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The inclusion of the diagram of an example float does not negate my argument as to the wording of DFO rules related to what must be on a float. I still contend that under their wording the inclusion of a phone number is considered optional. It may be a good idea but the inclusion of it on the float example does not negate the argument that it is discretionary. If their intent is otherwise they need to clean up the wording of the rule bullets and include ph.# in rule bullet #1.

The inclusion of the float diagram does not add clarity but rather is a perfect example of DFO's apparently inexhaustible ability to write rules and publish information that rather than clarify, simply adds confusion and in this case impracticality. Check out the size of the letting difference between the name and the phone number on the float example. 7.5 cm high is a very large letter or number. I know because when I last put my name on a float I measured the size of the letters for my name to be sure they comply with bullet #2 and they were huge to the point I had to be careful to fit my name on a 12 inch round plastic float which did not leave a lot of room for a 7.5cm high phone number. Now look at the difference between the scale size of the name on DFO's float example. If that is to scale and the ph. # is 7.5 cm high as per rule bullet #2 then the name is huge and that float example would be the size of a Scotsman used for deep water halibut anchor system and virtually never used by sport crabbers. Further it suggests to me that the inclusion of phone number in bullet #2 as it relates to number size may be a mistake if as I contend rule bullet #1 does not require a ph. # on the float. In DFO's example float, it would make much more sense that the name on the float is 7.5 cm high and the phone # is much smaller and even then,, at that scale, that is still a rather large float example. Larger than most in use I have seen and I have seen a lot.

I suspect that a great many sport crab floats in use on the water have letting and where added, phone numbers that are smaller and do not comply with DFO's #2 bullett. I would argue that size of letter is to large to be practical for typical sport crab floats and should be reduced in size in rule #2. to 5 cm. min. size. They would still be highly visible and legible even at some distance. It is as if the bureaucrat who drafted it had no particle experience with the subject and did not bother to buy a number of typical sport floats and see what size letters would be both highly legible and readable, yet still practical on typical floats used by sport fishers, especially if both a long name and phone numbers are used. We are not running massive commercial prawn trapline floats when we are crab fishing. One wonders where the 7.5 cm size came from? Did they simply borrow it from the size required on commercial fishing floats for their short license numbers without understanding the differences between that application and sport fishing floats. The good news is that I have always been impressed by the common sense of almost all of the DFO enforcement officers and I suspect most use their considerable discretion when it comes to name size etc on sport floats or their would be a lot more of them go missing than do.

If you use a permanent marker remember that they do fade and do need to be reapplied a couple of times if you leave the floats out in the sun like we do all summer season.
 
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Why are we having this discussion? Seems pretty common sense to me. If it's not yours leave it alone. While there are people who are blatantly careless by NOT following the rules on marking their buoys etc, it doesn't not give someone the authority, whether it be legal or apparent authority to repossess it. If you want to be a prick then go ahead and do as you please. If you take it, you are legally in possession of stolen property. What are you going to do with it when you take it home? Sell on craigist? Use it yourself? Seems like a dodgy approach.

As for boat without a registration, it could very well be a recently bought bought or one that has been imported from the US. You have a certain time period to get the reg number. How do you know they just aren't compliant and are just waiting for transport Canada to approve their application to issue a BC number? If you have that much time and will go to that much effort for a trivial endeavor such as hunting for unmarked traps and repossessing them, put that time and energy to better use by strong arming our idiotic gov officials who are screwing the rec fishing sector over. They are the ones who we should focus of our energies on, not a fellow non compliant rec fisherman who did not label his buoy according to the rules.
 
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A few times I've found a float that's super low in the water, and drifting in 1,000 feet of water. Sometimes I've pulled them by hand and reunited probably 3-4 guys with their traps, and only ONE has been classy enough to bring a bottle of wine as a thank you. If someone reunites you with your traps, a pack of beer as a thank you is the bare minimum!

The ones who didn't bring you a pack of beer, did they should gratitude and appreciation?
 
Just as an FYI, US Coast Guard Registered boats do not require registration numbers shown anywhere visible on the boat. We do however have to have the name of our boat in clear view and our Coast Guard registration documentation updated and available for inspection is boarded.
 
I'm surprised admin allowed this post. Some fine morals you have. Leave other people's gear alone.
Pastafarian
It's a fair question and only a question.
I do agree with "Leave other people's gear alone."
Way too many people stealing other peoples crabs and worse yet, traps!
 
leave them alone !!!!! some guy pulls up and your taking his trap your going to be in big trouble !!! you may think your doing the right thing but if i caught someone with my traps it would not be pretty !! ive had alot stolen
 
The ones who didn't bring you a pack of beer, did they should gratitude and appreciation?
One did! a text "thanks". Lol.
But the classy guy was an older asian man from Nanaimo. I ran across his traps in the middle of the strait, called the number on it and he answered in Chinese. A bit of back and forth and we understood each other. Pulled it by hand, coiled, took out all the odd snails from the traps and old bait, and took it with me to Parksville. He drove up to pick them up a few nights later, and explained he's never actually caught a prawn but he's trying. Haha. And he brought me a bottle of wine and some Chinese tea, and suggested we have lunch next time I was in Nanaimo. Really nice fellow.
 
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