Shoreham Port has said that it has been working closely with the local angling community and the Local Independent Sea Anglers (LISA) to improve navigational safety for vessels entering the Port at night. As part of an initiative launched by the Angling Trust, people fishing off of the East and West Arms are now being asked to use blue lights instead of standard white lights at night to assist vessels entering the Port.
The change follows feedback from vessel Masters, highlighting that bright lights are blinding their vision as they approach the harbour entrance. Using a blue light significantly reduces this issue and helps vessel Masters identify anglers as they approach the harbour.
During a meeting in October, LISA expressed their full support of the blue light initiative and are encouraging their members to adhere to the new request.
LISA has around 200 members in the Sussex area and a number of the members are regular users of the West Breakwater. LISA identifies issues and informs and assists their members to protect sea angling locally, nationally and internationally.
Steve Tapp, Chairman at LISA commented
“We were delighted to be invited to the meeting arranged by Reg Phillips from the Angling Trust with Julian Seaman, the Harbour Master at Shoreham Port and other stakeholders, to see how we might be of assistance. We have experience of developing signage that overcomes multi lingual issues and suggested the format for a sign that will request anglers to use blue lights at night. The new sign will be produced as soon as possible and the target is to have the full scheme up and running by spring of next year.”
Julian Seaman, Harbour Master & Director of Marine Operations at Shoreham Port commented
“Our number one priority is navigational safety. We are striving to keep the breakwaters open at night for the angling community and we hope that all anglers wishing to fish at night will respect the mitigating measures being put in place by the Angling Trust and LISA. Progress is being made and we are extremely grateful to LISA and the Angling Trust for their support in delivering this important message.”
Source & Image credits: Shoreham Port
