Lobster Pot Buoys

Each warp or line coming up from a pot or two on the bottom of the sea ends at a lobster pot buoy on the surface. Originally these buoys were cut with a hatchet from a small spruce trunk. Once laths became available, fishermen could turn buoys from larger pieces of wood. Small wood shops could make them in quantity for sale. Now buoys are hard foam.

Buoys are painted according to a design chosen by the lobsterman as his own. These designs are registered at Maine's Department of Marine Resources. Today's buoys also have the fisherman's license number. It is illegal to pick up buoys of a color other than your own.