florida spiny lobster
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Damselfish
Contributor
even northern lobsters tend to get chewy when broiled or baked. How come no one seems to just boil or steam spinys like we usually do with the northern ones?dubbwool:
Let's see... last year we had 3 diving fatalities due to mini-season and I think I heard they were attributing an additional 6 deaths to the sport season.
The placing of "structures" to attract lobster is often nothing more than throwing garbage into the ocean. I'm sure there are some very repsonsible people who environmentally clean their refrigerators and engine blocks before tossing them overboard, but that's not always the case. It is illegal to dive any structure regardless of when it was placed.
Oh, and did I mention all the people that think the "six per person" rule only applies to each boat ride?
I'm not saying we should eliminate recreational lobstering or mini-season, but it would seem that our new friend has an agenda to pursue here and hasn't really looked at what goes on during that special time in July and the first week of open season.
Rachel
P.S. Did I mention the woman that sent her neighbor's kid to the hospital with a lung overexpansion injury because a hookah rig isn't really diving? Or the guy that picked up a case of Budweiser and 8 air fills for him and his 3 buddies at lunch time?
The placing of "structures" to attract lobster is often nothing more than throwing garbage into the ocean. I'm sure there are some very repsonsible people who environmentally clean their refrigerators and engine blocks before tossing them overboard, but that's not always the case. It is illegal to dive any structure regardless of when it was placed.
Oh, and did I mention all the people that think the "six per person" rule only applies to each boat ride?
I'm not saying we should eliminate recreational lobstering or mini-season, but it would seem that our new friend has an agenda to pursue here and hasn't really looked at what goes on during that special time in July and the first week of open season.
Rachel
P.S. Did I mention the woman that sent her neighbor's kid to the hospital with a lung overexpansion injury because a hookah rig isn't really diving? Or the guy that picked up a case of Budweiser and 8 air fills for him and his 3 buddies at lunch time?
I was down there when the deaths occured. They were not caused by the mini season. The one that happened at Bahia Honda bridge was caused by a diver jumping into a strong running tide to save a $10 dive float while still wearing his weight belt we can't regulate panic.
If you think the structures I am refering to are a few old appliances or car parts you need to take a trip to the content keys area and check out the monster structures that are placed on and killing the grass beds. These are not structures placed by a few locals to catch dinner lobsters. Yes it is illegel to dive structures, it is also illegal to place them. But if you think that is stopping these outlaw commercial divers you are living in a la la land.
Yes I do have an agenda it is to have the FWC treat recreational divers at least equal to the commercial interest. Why is it almost every new regulation that comes is against the recreational interest both diving and fishing. What hold does the commercial fishing industry have over the FWC?
I agree we need to stop multi-trips and I purposed a 100 tag limit per year for each lobster ticket holder and have not gotten a responce from FWC.
P.S YOU can't regulate stupidy!
I have been diving the lower keys since 1978 and have been promoting diver safety and the use of dive flag floats to any one who will listen.
If you think the structures I am refering to are a few old appliances or car parts you need to take a trip to the content keys area and check out the monster structures that are placed on and killing the grass beds. These are not structures placed by a few locals to catch dinner lobsters. Yes it is illegel to dive structures, it is also illegal to place them. But if you think that is stopping these outlaw commercial divers you are living in a la la land.
Yes I do have an agenda it is to have the FWC treat recreational divers at least equal to the commercial interest. Why is it almost every new regulation that comes is against the recreational interest both diving and fishing. What hold does the commercial fishing industry have over the FWC?
I agree we need to stop multi-trips and I purposed a 100 tag limit per year for each lobster ticket holder and have not gotten a responce from FWC.
P.S YOU can't regulate stupidy!
I have been diving the lower keys since 1978 and have been promoting diver safety and the use of dive flag floats to any one who will listen.
A few years back before there was a law on the books preventing law abiding divers from taking crawfish from these illeglly placed structures. I was on board a friends boat dragging looking for coral heads when I saw a square patch of dead grass. At first I didn't know what killed the grass. Then I saw the over turned structure where some conservation minded idiot, who I assume thought he was doing a good deed was killing another 6ft x 6ft patch of grass vital to both the finned fish and the crawfish. Later the guy I was with found another structure loaded with crawfish. He put on a tank and went down and pulled our boat limit, this still left more than a hundred lobster under the structure. Just before he came up a new fast boat with three men on board roared up on us with our dive flag up and our diver carring a flag float yelling and screaming we were stealing from their structure. I would have agreed with them if the structure was legal and marked with their commercial number. The next year the FWC passed a law against structure diving, this law does not stop the OUTLAWS that placed them there illeglly. It only stops law abidding honest divers thus protecting the illegal structures for the OUTLAWS. Know the lobster are not making it into the channels and heads where we were catching them before . The only logical solution to this problem that the FWC is unable to stop is to require all lobster taken commercially to be taken by enviorementally safe biodigradable traps!!!
Biscuit,
You really must be living in LA! LA! land .I think you know the picture as good as we do. You should join this movement ,since you are in business and so should ALL other establishments that depend on diving for their livelyhood. One day you will wake up and it will be GONE.
You really must be living in LA! LA! land .I think you know the picture as good as we do. You should join this movement ,since you are in business and so should ALL other establishments that depend on diving for their livelyhood. One day you will wake up and it will be GONE.
So, I've got the one guy with 8 posts, all in this thread, and another guy with 1 post telling me that they know better than I, a Keys resident, do. Ok, that's fine. You clearly know absolutely no one that lobsters commercially.
What do you want to change exactly? Increased limits for recreational divers? Extend mini-season? Let recreational folk set and lobster on artificial structure? You say you support the current regulations, and yet, you'd like to protest the board that has created them?
Commercial guys taking off structure is illegal. There is nothing in the regs that makes it legal. It's up to FWC to find the stuff and nail the people taking from it. What's going to change about that?
As far as equal treatment? Why should you/we be treated equally? What is about recreational lobstering that makes it equal to commercial lobstering in any way? Aside from dealing with the same critter, it's 2 totally different endeavors. Recreational lobstering is of economic interest for precisely 9 days out of the year: mini-season and the first week of open season. Commercial lobstering is a part of the Keys economy year-round. What do you want to say to the guys that lost all their traps (made of wood, can't think what's more biodegradeable than that) during the hurricanes last year?
Rachel
What do you want to change exactly? Increased limits for recreational divers? Extend mini-season? Let recreational folk set and lobster on artificial structure? You say you support the current regulations, and yet, you'd like to protest the board that has created them?
Commercial guys taking off structure is illegal. There is nothing in the regs that makes it legal. It's up to FWC to find the stuff and nail the people taking from it. What's going to change about that?
As far as equal treatment? Why should you/we be treated equally? What is about recreational lobstering that makes it equal to commercial lobstering in any way? Aside from dealing with the same critter, it's 2 totally different endeavors. Recreational lobstering is of economic interest for precisely 9 days out of the year: mini-season and the first week of open season. Commercial lobstering is a part of the Keys economy year-round. What do you want to say to the guys that lost all their traps (made of wood, can't think what's more biodegradeable than that) during the hurricanes last year?
Rachel
biscuit7:
you may live in the keys but I'll bet your parents are not native floridians. I am a second generation floridian and at 66 that should about say it all. FYI my grand father and his brother were commercial fishermen in south fla and the keys before your parents were even a twinkle in your grand parents eyes.
I caught crawfish with my father when there was no size or quanity limit. We only took what we needed for our table! I have nothing against honest commercial trappers or divers the honest divers will just be collaterl damage caused by the outlaw divers. I do Have a problem with a bunch of OUTLAW commercial DIVERS that are still placing and diving on ILLEGAL STRUCTURES. THE FWC admits that they are unable to stop the placing of said ILLEGAL structures. The only solution to this problem is to resrict commercial taking of lobster to TRAPPING. These OUTLAW COMMERCIAL DIVERS have placed and continue placing these ENVIROMENTAL DAMAGING structures they won't stop on their own so take away the profit from diving on them. The law couldn't stop boot legging so they passed a law making drinking alchol legal taking away the boot leggers profit.
These commercial divers on the lobster advisory board are asking fo special permits for diving structures, RIGHT give OUTLAWS GUNS and POACHERS NIGHTVISION GOGGLES AND SILENCERS. Please reread my orignal post and go to florida sportsman forum conservation and read my post!! You/we are the majority and it seems that commercial interest have FWC in their back pocket. Read some of the diving post other than mine on the florida sportsmen forum I am not alone.. FYI there are hundreds of us that spend over a month at a time in the keys, get your facts correct!!
reeldive
Contributor
I know I'm kinda new to this new era diveing thing but seems to me that we could learn from our neighbors in the Bahamas and just make it illegal to harvest fish, lobster or any thing else with the use of Scuba gear . In my younger years we had no trouble getting a meal "free" diving. The use of SCuba probably over taxes the resource by both commercial and recreational usere
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