USVI-On-Line

Does anyone on the forum know anything about these? We ran across two of them in Big Lameshur out near Donkey Bight the week before last. There wasn't anything in either that I could perceive. It had rained that morning so it was a bit murky and a reef or black tipped shark cruised in out of the murk to check them out and then disappeared back into it. Mrs. BillVT thought that we had ought to head back in. I didn't argue. Are they a VIERS project?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/billvt/4523599904/" title="Fish Trap in Big Lameshur by nayr48, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2792/452 ... b9baab.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Fish Trap in Big Lameshur"></a>

My guess is a lobster trap

This appears to be a standard fish trap or fish pot--legal for use within VINP, but no longer legal in Lameshur since the designation of the Coral Reef National Monument. Give the Park a call 776-6201--and tell them what you saw and where. It is possible that it is being used for research, but far more likely that the owner is ignorant since the new areas and rules have been poorly publicized--and poorly enforced due to lack of enforcement personnel.