Maine lobster buoy floated 2,500 miles, ended up in France

While lobsters are a year-round product for Maine fisherman, the season won’t be in full swing until summer hits. Before the work really ramps up, even the buoys want to take a quick vacation. Where better to go than France?

The photo above was posted Sunday in a Facebook group called “Lost At Sea.” The poster asked the members of the group to help identify the owner of a buoy they found in Brest, France, who was thought to be from Maine, Florida or Massachusetts. A buoy from Massachusetts would never make it that far, obviously.

Google Maps screenshot

Commenters got to work and quickly identified the owner of the buoy, Adrian Batson, of Addison. A woman, Judy Rolfe, claiming to be Batson’s fiancée confirmed his identity, saying:

It is from Maine and it belongs to Adrian Batson from Addison Maine! Funny thing is he hasn’t had this color for almost 15 yrs! I am his fiancée and he never comes on Facebook but is aware of this! We are amazed this was found an looks in pretty good shape for the time and distance it has traveled!

A 15-year old lobster buoy traveling 2,500 miles and remaining intact is pretty amazing. Earlier this year, a buoy from Bar Harbor was found in Ireland. Looking at how the surface currents move in the North Atlantic, according to Surf Science, finding Maine buoys on the east coast of Europe might not be a surprise.

While the occasional buoy might float ashore in Europe, the garbage pile that accumulates in the middle of gyres (the term for the system of ocean currents), might contain more than a few stray buoys. The garbage pile in the middle of Pacific Ocean gyre is only getting larger, and becoming more and more of a problem, according to the Guardian.

If only the buoys had cameras on them, so we could see how treacherous their journeys across the sea are.