2 men tried to get a jump on lobster season, police say. They spent the night in jail
Two Homestead men spent Sunday night in jail after state fish and wildlife police said they caught them with 19 spiny lobsters, which won’t be in season until next week.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission police said the men also had an undersized schoolmaster snapper fish and a goliath grouper, a species illegal to land or harvest without a special permit.
Carlos Gomez Lopez, 21, and Diego Juan, 44, were booked into jail on 18 misdemeanor conservation violations Sunday afternoon and released the next day with orders to appear later before a judge. They could not be reached for comment.
According to an FWC media release, the men, along with a teenage boy, were catching the lobsters along a seawall in a residential canal in the Venetian Shores neighborhood in Islamorada.
Officers Brienna Zambo, Lauren Dickson and Brad Stanley saw the men in the water handing the boy, who was on the seawall, their catch, according to the release.
Not only were all 19 spiny lobsters out of season, 15 were undersized, the FWC said.
There was good news for the goliath grouper, according to police.
“Officers noticed the Goliath grouper was still alive and were able to revive, and release it,” the agency said.
Spiny lobster won’t be legal to catch in Florida until a two-day “miniseason” for them kicks off at midnight next Tuesday. That brief season ends at 11:59 p.m. next Thursday, July 27.
The regular recreational and commercial season starts Aug. 6 and ends March 31.
