Maine Lobster Fishing Trap Tag Discovered on English Shores

There was a fun little story in the Maine Public Broadcasting Network this week about how a Maine lobster fishing trap tag has been discovered off the coast of Cornwall - three thousand miles from its point of origin.

As the article states:

Simon Bone was out with his wife and two sons, taking the brisk winter air at Perranporth Beach, near the most westerly point of the British Isles, when something caught his eye, his wife Sharon recounts. "As we got to the top of the beach Simon saw a red tag sticking out, and picked it up and saw it was a lobster pot tag, saw some numbers on it, and he just wondered if it could be traced and put it in his pocket."

Maine trap tags, as referenced in my last post, have unique serial numbers per owner and Sharon used the Internet to trace the lobster trap tag to a lobsterman who still lives and works in Jonesport, which is right down the road from Cutler.

The article noted how Maine lobster buoys have also been found on the shores of Cornwall. Apparently if an item gets far enough out in the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift will bring it across the Atlantic Ocean to the British Isles.

As Sue said in the article, it's amazing how we're all connected, even though we're three thousand miles apart. Sitting in my office in London this afternoon, I'm feeling a little bit closer to my home town of Cutler : ).