Pye End Buoy (SWM) - Stone Banks (PHM) - Medusa (SHM) .

Using the channel most weeks and find it most unusual if I do not have to take any avoiding action in dodging the poorly marked pot/gill net marker floats .

Most of the regular East Coast boaters are aware of the problems in this area and anticipate such an encounter . The problems are greater when you have a wind over tide situation/ short chop or night/restricted viz when the 'markers' are almost invisible until you are actually a boat's length off them . Almost impossible to spot the translucent plastic gallon tanks . A real hazard for visitors to the Backwaters and Essex rivers .

I am not 'anti fisherman' and accept that people have to earn a living from the sea by potting or netting in the seasonally productive areas . It would be of everyone's benefit if the pots/nets were properly marked with bamboo dahn buoys fluorescent material flags and retro reflective tape . Perhaps a minimum size for markers/colour and minimum area of retro reflective tape . The pots marked with the fishing vessels ID number.

The fisherman would have the benefit of less lost or damaged gear .

David