Outdoors

Are your antennae tingling?

Divers scurry about in anticipation of the two-day sport season for spiny lobster.

By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors Editor
Published July 20, 2007

Scuba divers across Florida are dusting off their gear, filling up tanks and getting ready for next week's two-day sport season July 25-26 for lobster.

If you've never been to the Florida Keys during the last Wednesday and Thursday of July, like the Running of the Bulls, it is something everybody should experience at least once.

Monster bugs

Divers like to call lobsters "bugs." That is because these crustaceans and insects are both invertebrates and come from the same phylum, Arthropoda. The common traits lobster and insects share are jointed appendages - legs, antennae and mouthparts - hence the bug reference. They also have a rigid external skeleton that they molt or shed as they grow.

The Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus), which range from North Carolina to Brazil, do not have large claws for hunting and defense like its cousin from the state of Maine. One of the spiny lobster's defense strategies is to use its speed. Lobsters can take off in the blink of an eye with a flip of the tail, leaving a diver bewildered and empty-handed.

Sizing 'em up

The average spiny lobster has a carapace (the shell that covers its body) length of 3 inches and weighs about 1 pound. Lobsters smaller than this are too "short" to take legally.

But the largest spiny lobster on record was more than three times that size, with a 10-inch carapace length and weighing in at more than 21 pounds. Researchers aren't sure how old a lobster that size would be, but they guess about 21 years old.

Myth busters

Researchers have tracked lobsters equipped with sonar tags for weeks at a time. One female walked 78 miles over a 42-day period and ended up in the same spot she started. A male lobster walked 66 miles during the same time period but wound up 200 yards from his starting point.

But contrary to the popular myth that lobster can "migrate" or walk across large expanses of ocean, these crustaceans seldom travel far from home. The reason: lobsters like temperate water. The bottom of the ocean floor is cold, real cold. In the early 1990s, two scientists took some lobsters down to 700 feet using a deep-sea submersible. The lobsters died within minutes.

Sea berries

The first thing a lobster hunter learns is how to identify an egg-bearing female. Female lobsters carry eggs (you will see them directly under the tail) for about a month anytime between April and August, although eggs have been found as early as February and as late as November. An egg-bearing female is said to be "berried," and under the regulations they must be released unharmed.

A typical female will produce about 300,000 orange-colored eggs per clutch. Large females can produce as many as 2-million eggs per clutch. The "berries" start out orange but darken as the eggs mature.

Bag limits

You may keep six lobsters per person per day in Monroe County (the Florida Keys) and Biscayne National Park, and 12 per person per day in the rest of Florida.

The possession limit on the water is equal to the daily bag limit; off the water, it is equal to the daily bag limit on the first day and double the daily bag limit on the second day.

Be forewarned: law enforcement officers are out in force and possession limits are enforced on and off the water.

Size limits

A legal spiny lobster must have a carapace that is at least 3 inches long, and the lobster must be measured in the water. You must have a measuring device in your possession at all times.

Special prohibitions

Night diving is prohibited in Monroe County during the sport season, but allowed in other areas of the state. A recreational saltwater license and a crawfish permit are needed for harvest.

The harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season. Harvest is also prohibited during both the two-day sport season and regular season in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and no-take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Ongoing management

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists have nearly finished with a three-year analysis of the state's lobster fishery.

One of the new management techniques under consideration is requiring a special license to participate in Monroe County's two-day sport season.

The FWC will discuss the proposed regulations at a series of workshops this fall. State officials will hold a final hearing in Key Largo in December.

In case you miss it

Don't fret if you don't get a chance to head out during the sport season. The regular season for spiny lobster runs from Aug. 6 through March 31. The bag limit is six lobsters per day.

By the numbers

During the best commercial season on record (1989-90), fishermen harvested 7,839,340 pounds of lobster. During the worst season (2005-06), they landed only 2,974,265 pounds.

During the best special sport and recreational seasons (1999-2000), divers took 2,461,981 pounds of lobster. During the worst seasons (2004-05), they landed just 341,665 pounds of lobster.

To learn more, go to www.myfwc.com.

Tasty treat

Now that you have caught your lobster, how do you cook it? For recipes, go to http://www.fl-seafood.com/recipes/spinylob_recipes.htm.

[Last modified July 20, 2007, 03:02:43]