Lobsters take a walk on the ocean floor after hurricanes and no one knows why

The strong waves kicked up by Hurricane Nicole along Florida’s Atlantic Coast will make for great lobstering this week.

After major storms that churn the ocean, divers and snorkelers look forward to a lobster walk when the seas subside and the water clears enough to see the crustaceans walking in a line in the sand. Scientists don’t know why lobsters, which are informally called “bugs,” do this, but it is a sight to behold when dozens of bugs walk north in formation in 8 to 20 feet of water off local beaches.

Lobstering expert Jim “Chiefy” Mathie said there was a major lobster walk last month following Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast in late September. The turbulent waters caused by the storm resulted in a walk that lasted for two weeks according to Mathie, a retired Deerfield Beach Fire-Rescue Division chief and the author of “Catching the BUG: The Comprehensive Guide to Catching the Spiny Lobster,” which is available at South Florida dive shops and online at www.chiefy.net.

Given the rough surf along the coast caused by Nicole, which passed through the region Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Mathie said he expects to see lobsters walking on Tuesday.

“It usually happens five days after a storm,” said Mathie, who will head offshore in his boat to dive as soon as seas calm. “There is a lot of turbidity in the water, and when that clears, you’ll be able to see the bugs walking.”

After a hurricane several years ago, Mathie and his friends went diving a few days after the storm and the water was so dirty, he said the only way to tell he was on the bottom was when he touched down on it. Despite the poor visibility, he managed to shoot a red grouper with his speargun and one of his dive buddies caught a few lobsters.

Catching lobsters is much easier when they are walking. Snorkelers can swim from the beach, look for the line of lobsters and use a net or snare to capture their daily limit of six bugs.

Mathie said that during the walk after Hurricane Ian, commercial lobster scuba divers that he knows simply sat on the bottom in the sand and waited for the lobsters to walk to them. Those divers easily caught their commercial daily limit of 250 bugs.

What Mathie and his dive buddies like to do is check shallow spots off Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach by having someone jump in the water with a dive mask, snorkel and fins. Once walking lobsters are located, Mathie’s crew will go to the bottom with their scuba tanks and pick out the six biggest bugs that they see.

“After Ian, we saw as many as 100 lobsters walking in a line,” Mathie said. “When we’d take one or two, the line would break up a little, and then there’d be like 20 walking in a line.”

He added that typically the bigger lobsters are at the head of a line. Mathie also said that anglers on area fishing piers snagged some lobsters with hooks on their fishing lines, which is illegal.

Law enforcement officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are out on the water and on area beaches when lobsters are walking to make sure people are following the rules. Anyone catching lobsters must have a saltwater fishing license, which costs $17 for Florida residents, and a $5 spiny lobster permit.

Spiny lobsters must have a minimum carapace length of more than 3 inches and must be measured in the water. Possession and use of a measuring device is required at all times. Lobsters must remain in whole condition while in or on the water. No egg-bearing females may be taken.

Dive flags on boats must be at least 20 by 24 inches and have stiffeners to keep the flags unfurled. Dive flags on floats for those snorkeling or diving off the beach must be a minimum of 12 by 12 inches. For all lobster regulations, visit https://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/lobster.

Lobsters stop walking when they find new homes in the reefs and rockpiles off South Florida. Mathie said it’s not unusual then to find groups of bugs gathered under a ledge or coral head, which makes catching them almost as easy as when they’re walking.

“They seem to be in a trance,” Mathie said. “It’s like they’re saying ‘Catch me, catch me.’ So we take the biggest one first, then work our way through them.”

After getting a quick limit, Mathie and his buddies then grab their spearguns and hunt for grouper and mutton snapper. The sandy water stirred up by the storms forces the fish to head offshore. As the water clears, the hungry fish return to the reefs, often as shallow as 30 to 50 feet.

This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 2:37 PM.