The Tampa Bay Times
Florida divers are starting now to get ready for the two-day Florida Mini-Lobster season that opens on July 29th and closes at the end of the next day. This is one of the biggest events for snorkelers and scuba divers of the year. Some dive charters in south Florida still have boat space and if you act quickly you could secure yourself a dive spot. The highest concentrations of these lobsters are always found in the Florida Keys. Like every year for the past 20 or more years plenty of divers flock to the Keys in July for these two days of lobster hunting. Spiny lobsters can be found in almost all Florida saltwater areas. Subsequent to the Florida Keys, the next best areas to find concentrations lobsters, to fill a diver’s daily bag limit are Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and areas just north of the Palm Beaches. To defray the massive onslaught of divers to Monroe county (the Florida Keys) state game officials changed the daily bag limit to six per person per day in Monroe county and 12 per person in all other Florida waters. The ironic thing is that as divers move farther north from Monroe county the lobster population declines making 12 lobsters per person an tough goal. The concentrations of lobsters may be less as you move north up both the east and west coast of Florida, but the lobsters get bigger as you move north.
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