Marine Patrol!!

[Scuba_Jenny]

NetDoc once bubbled...
NO harvesting of lobsters off of an artificial habitat... wrecks and artificial reefs would be included in this. How they would determine just where that bug came from beats me, but its right there in print.

Is it on the internet someplace? This is the first I have heard of it. Granted my licnese doesn't expire for another couple days so if they handed out the latest and greatest for this years licensing when you get licensed, I did not get it.
Bummer. It takes one of my fav places off the list...

 

[The Chairman]

I had a hard time finding this... Lobster Reg history but check out the very last line. The way I saw it put earlier was from ANY artificial habitat. I just can't find that link.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I think it is important to note the last line on that page:
Prohibits all harvest of lobsters from illegal artificial habitat
That would explain why those guys got busted for picking from a sunken boat. Keeps persons from intentionally sinking objects to attract the bugs.
It just doesn't make any sense that a new law would limit harvesting on anything manmade. That would mean you cannot take off an artifical reef or wreck. Thus Bob3 was correct when he said "you can get BUSTED for bugging [in FL] on anything that found its way to the bottom without a permit."
I feel better now.

 

[CBulla]

Seems a bit rediculous to me. I mean, what if its on a wreck that preceeds the permit? Boats sink sometimes.

 

[Virus]FSLR2[]

I believe the ruling states that the "manmade objects that are not permitted" are the ones that are illegal to pull bugs from.

Hence the need to pull a permit to create an artificial reef, otherwise you're just illegally dumping.

This would eliminiate the lobster hotels (Concrete blocks stacked in a pyramid all year long, only to have someone bring down a 10' cast net and cover the whole thing, and then lift the blocks and scatter all the bugs into the net, only to have them sorted at the surface). I've seen this practice over and over down in the lower keys (Used to have a place on Shark Key and the cut was full of them)

 

[FredT]

THE STATE OF FLORIDA SEES DIVERS AS A CASH COW!!!

The rules as written and enforced are primarily a harrasment function to allow divers to cough up more cash to the state!

Is a 12" x 18" flag more effective at keeping boaters away than a smaller one, when there is no effective penalty for the boater NOT staying away?

Does the rec diver pulling his limit of bugs from a lobbie condo (which probably allows more bugs to grow to reach legal size) hurt the bug population more than the same diver pulling his limit fro the reef 300 yards away, and possibly damaging reef in the process? The rule was part of a fight between the commercial trappers, netters, and divers for a "share" of a pubic resource, but the rec divers are the ones who will get to pay the lion's share of the fines collected. BTW has the state "marked" the "permitted" sites in any way so I'll know if the wreck I'm on either predates the rules (the "Copenhagen" comes to mind here) or was properly "permitted" (the "Duane" is an example of this one) or is otherwise a "legal structure" to harvest from? Anybody want to take bets on how the rule wil be changed if it's contested in court? I'll go with the "No manmade structures" interpretation, which will also eliminate groins, jetties, spoils areas, abandoned shoreworks and seawalls, old offshore dumps, "permitted" artificial reefs, cuts through natural reef (the fight there will be how close to the cut can you get) cable coverings, and pipelines.

Is it really _necessary_ to have the rec diver haul a piece of paper (a material generally not very moisture tolerant) with him during the dives? Prudence would place them in the boat or vehicle with the rest of the ID. Or is this rule just a way to make the "officers life easier" at the expense of the rec diver? If it is _necessry_ then the harvest license supplied by the state of Florida to EVERYONE for ANY game should be as waterproof as a credit card. As a citizen I'm not in the business of making a law enforcement "easy" just to make it "easy." The rules SHOULD make sense from the viewpoint of the citizen. If the LEOs life is a bit more complicated, it is the citizens who pay his salary. He can live with it or find another line of work. If I'm going to have to "pay extra" for his services by needing a few more of him to get the same job done 'cause it isn't as "easy" as it was before I'd rather do that up front, than get nailed in court and pay dearly (and more unevenly) for it later.

Is a "gauge" necessary if the diver has no shorts? My hand is a bit over the legal bug measurement wide across the knuckles. I generally use that instead of a plastic or aluminum "gauge", so my bugs are usually a minimum of 1/4" over legal. Will my hand width stand up in a Fla. court as a "gauge"? I ALWAYS have it with me!

Do not assume the laws and regulations pertaining to divers have ANYTHING to do with what "they" say they are about. ANY marine harvest rule is usually a power play by or among the commercial fishermen with little if any input from recreational fishermen. Most other rules concerning "divers" in the Fla. code are primarily enforced as $ producers for the state or county treasury.

FT