KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. (WSVN) - As the Lobster Sport mini-season approached, clouds, rain and lightning off Key Biscayne rained on boaters’ parades but the weather didn’t stop some families from bringing in a nice catch.
“Plenty of rain plenty of storms, but we still got our lobsters so it’s a good day,” said Jason Chockley, who was out on his boat with his son Victor.
Jason Chockley has been catching lobsters for 25 years and now his son is also learning the ropes.
“He’s the spotter from above, and he runs back and forth between the boat, makes sure they’re all good in size and measurement,” said Jason. “It’s always a team effort.”
Many others weren’t as lucky as the rain was relentless on Wednesday morning.
“We tried but you know that the visibility is really dark so we couldn’t see anything,” said Felix Cuevas, another boater out on the water. “So we’re trying to see if the rain goes out and then we’ll go back.”
The 2-day Lobster Sport mini-season started just after midnight and will continue until midnight Thursday. So boaters can expect much more boat traffic than usual.
On Tuesday, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials shared safety tips on how to get the most out of the event without dealing with any trouble.
“Be extremely careful, the waters will be very congested all through Miami-Dade County and the Keys,” said Major Alberto Maza with the FWC. “Be courteous, know your laws, make sure you go to MyFWC.com, know your distances from your dive flag, know where you can be and where you can’t be.”
They advised that specific flags on a boat indicate that divers are in the water and boaters need to go at an idle speed if that flag is in the area.
Officials also reminded the public of the daily bag limit to help conserve lobster for future generations; six lobsters per licensed person with a lobster endorsement in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park and 12 anywhere else in Florida.
There’s also a size minimum: lobsters must be measured in the water and the carapace must be larger than 3 inches.
“The way you measure the lobster is there are two horns and two eyes, you want to put the measuring device right in between the horns and bring it all the way back, if it stops, before the end of the carapace, this is a legal lobster,” said Chockley.
Lieutenant Ralph Almagro with the FWC demonstrated the proper measurements for the public.
“There was definitely thunder and lightning out there so it was wild,” said Adriana Chockley. “You know you just stay with your diver so you protect him and it was all right.”
Despite the storm, this family certainly isn’t feeling crabby. When asked what they were going to do with the lobsters, they said they were going to eat them. They’re going home to warm up some butter.
Officials also want to remind the public to release any pregnant lobsters. To check for that, you must flip over the crustacean and check for any orange, brown, or black eggs.
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