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Disappointing Catch Reported on First Day of Florida Lobster Mini-Season

Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Jul. 28--After counting more than 200 empty air tanks sitting in his Islamorada dive shop Wednesday evening, Mike Goldberg figured it would be dawn today before he was done filling them.

Just in time for the final day of Florida's annual two-day lobster mini-season, which attracts an estimated 40,000 lobster lovers who dive into the warm Atlantic and try to capture the tasty and elusive crustacean.

"I can't say how busy it is, because all I know is I have more than I can handle every year and have to turn people away," said Goldberg about the event that began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and concludes at midnight tonight.

Opening day was marred by two diving-related deaths, both in the Keys where most lobster hunters flock because the lobsters are more abundant and closer to shore in shallow reefs and in rock outcrops that dot the flats.

Robert Neville Moore, 58, who worked for the Broward County Sheriff's office, died while scuba diving near Cudjoe Key, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. A Fort Myers man died in a diving-related incident off Sugarloaf Key, but the Sheriff's Office was still investigating Wednesday night and did not have more details.

"Because of the numbers attracted to the Keys, that's where the problems usually are," said Willie Puz of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that monitors the mini-season.

The only incident reported outside the Keys was a scuba diver taken to the hospital with the bends after surfacing too quickly while diving off Pompano Beach. The 28-year-old is in fair condition, officials said.

Puz said there were no other incidents reported Wednesday and no major arrests. Last year 1,911 vessels and 7,694 people were inspected during the mini-season and 213 citations issued, most for undersized lobsters.

While Goldberg was filling tanks at $6 a pop, he was also fielding complaints from divers who had been out trying to catch their limit of the elusive spiny lobster, also known as "bugs."

"Shorts, shorts, shorts," Pontin said. "There are plenty of bugs out there, but hardly any of them are big enough to keep."

That was the story from Key West to Jupiter, as divers said they saw plenty of lobsters but had trouble finding those that had a carapace of at least 3 inches, which makes them legal to harvest.

"We had one guy in a hole with about 20 bugs, and he only got one keeper," said Tony Coulter, who operates a dive boat out of Deerfield Beach. Few divers were coming back with the limit of 12, Coulter said, and those who did had 12 small ones.

Goldberg wasn't the only one busy dealing with the onslaught of lobster hunters who have filled hotel rooms up and down the Keys.

"It is total mayhem," said Duke Pontin, who operates Sea Tow of the Florida Keys, which helps boaters who run into problems. "There is no comparing it with anything else, because there is nothing like it."

Pontin was filling gas cans to take out to a boater who had run out of fuel.

"Something about this, people just seem to lose their minds," he said. "They run aground, forget to check the fuel gauge. It's a frenzy. But it's good for business."

Pontin doesn't mind spending his time servicing divers instead of going for lobsters himself.

"Catching a lobster is like trying to catch a crab in the middle of I-95," Pontin said. "You won't catch me out there."

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Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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