Pott(er)ing

From my clifftop viewpoint I could see two small boats approaching. To the right the two-man crew made leisurely progress around the base of the cliffs as they spent long minutes fumbling with their lobster pots, whether checking or setting them I could not say. They used their outboard motor just to move between dropping-off points, marked by floats, and the rest was silence.

From the left a fast inflatable (extra) skimmed across the bay and screeched to a halt beside first one, and then another float-marked pot. Each was checked and thrown back in seconds (no catch?) and the boat revved up for its return journey leaving a white wake and a reverberating echo.

Plastic and petrol are inseparable from any sort of sea fishing now but the first potters seem to uphold the traditional style of doing it The good news is that no longer are the captured crustaceans exported directly to the continent: native crab and lobster is so popular in local eateries that there's a ready market for it around the coast.