[Travis McGee]

I used to hate those things when I was snorkeling in the Keys and the Bahamas. Old lost traps use trapped/dead lobsters as “bait” for the next lobster and so on forever.

They pissed me off so much. I’d see 3 or 4 “lost” traps around one trap with a rope and a float. I’d end up opening the doors on the lost traps, and pinning them back, so critters could escape. A drop in the bucket to do a few like that, of course.

The solution is that traps MUST have doors that will fall off after a while, using latches and hinges that will corrode or rot and fall off. On working traps, these could be replaced every few months on the lobster boats.

But trap users don’t want the hassle. And they end up “competing” against many many “ghost” traps, forever.

[Ditter]

Ah ha, so I was right in my post #20. I had not read yours until after I posted.

[Lurker]

It seems to me that making the ‘hinges’ out of carbon steel would take care of this problem. They wouldn’t last very long down there.

[Daffynition]

First generation Maine lobster pots used to be made of lath with a curved top. Supposedly to allow the pot to roll with the strong currents. Second generation pots are more *square,* and more easily stacked.

When a lobster enters through the net “head” to go after the bait in a bait bag placed in the “kitchen”. When it tries to exit it lands in the “bedroom” or “parlor”. Some traps have more than one kitchen and bedroom. Traps are required to have an escape vent that is large enough to let all but the legal size lobsters escape. Traps also are equipped with runners that help prevent legs, claws and antennae from being pinched between the bottom of the trap and the boat when the traps are hauled. Most areas also require traps to have a biodegradable "ghost panel". This panel will eventually degrade and release, allowing a large space for lobsters to escape from "ghost traps" (those that have broken free of their buoy lines and are therefore unretrieveable).