South Florida two-day lobster hunt off to a good start

By 1 p.m. Wednesday, Day One of the two-day lobster miniseason, boats began coming back to South Florida docks with their hauls of the tasty crustaceans.

Initial reports were that people are catching their limits of Florida spiny lobster with little problems. The per-person bag limit in the Florida Keys and within Biscayne National Park is six lobsters. In the rest of the state, it’s 12.

Michael Hoffman, a biological science technician with Biscayne National Park, was at Black Point Marina in South Miami-Dade County measuring lobsters as they came in with his colleagues and volunteers. He said the morning was a little slow, but it was picking up by noon.

“They’re just starting to roll in,” he said.

The Park Service was measuring the lobsters to ensure compliance, but to also conduct research, Hoffman said.

“We want to measure the lobsters and determine their sex so we can look at the long-term trends in Biscayne National Park and surrounding waters,” he said.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reported its marine resources officers are seeing people catching lots of legal-sized “bugs,” and there have been no major incidents as of 1 :30 p.m.

Miniseason kicked off at 12 a.m. Wednesday and ends 11:59 p.m. Thursday night. It precedes the eight-month commercial and recreational lobster season that starts Aug. 6.

In addition to bag limits, other rules for miniseason include: All lobsters must be brought back to shore whole; Lobsters must be caught by hand or net. Anglers cannot spear them or otherwise crack their shells; The lobster’s carapace, the part that is not the tail, must measure at least three inches in length.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 4:47 PM.