Divers were up early on Wednesday for the beginning of spiny lobster sport season—and they weren’t going to let anything get in between them and their catch.
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At Crandon Park Marina in Key Biscayne, NBC6’s Julia Bagg spoke to Ben Peña about the crustaceans he caught early Wednesday.
“[You’ve got to have] good luck, that’s it,” he said. “It’s not a secret. You just go under the bridge, look for it, and catch it. That’s it.”
Well, it’s a little tougher than that.
Peña gets into the water and searches for them under rocks with a flashlight, and when he succeeds in getting the lobster out of its hiding spot, his partner swoops in to catch it.
Peña’s a veteran hunter; he’s been catching lobster for 10 years. This Wednesday he had to contend with wind, murky waters and sargassum that carpeted the marina.
“We went out first and then we saw the weather, so it was kind of a lot of wind,” he said. “So me and my friend we decided to go in on shore, and that way the water’s more calm… now with this weather, you can’t see up there.”
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Now Peña gets to go home with a hefty catch, one he likes to cook on the grill or in fricassee.
Rules for spiny lobster sport season
From July 29 to the 30, licensed hunters can catch up to 12 lobsters daily per individual in Florida except for Monroe County and Biscayne National Park (where there is a limit of six per person).
Though fishing in Florida waters for spiny lobsters is fair game, there are some places where harvesting lobster is forbidden. Some of these places include Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, no-take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, in the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary, and in the five coral reef protection areas in Biscayne National Park.
In order for someone to keep a lobster, there are a few requirements that need to be checked off first:
- the carapace length must exceed 3 inches, specifically when measured in water. The carapace is the lobster’s tough shell that spans from its head to midsection.
- Once captured, the lobster must be brought to land in one piece. It is prohibited to separate the tail from the body.
- It is also prohibited for people to harvest a lobster that is bearing eggs or harvest using a device that could puncture or crush the crustacean.
For more information about this year’s Spiny Lobster Sport season, visit the FWC’s website.
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