Hunt The Lobster

Lobster mini season they call the next couple of days, and the pursuit of lobster is one of those divisive events that sets some peoples' teeth on edge. Other people see an influx of people as bearers of cash and that's all to the good.

It happens that commercial lobster catching starts in August and continues into the winter with tens of thousands of licensed traps scattered through the Keys by commercial fishermen and I should note they are all men for reasons I don't know, good sense possibly or intelligence.  Lobster fishing is one of those trades people do out of desire and consequently they get screwed by the middlemen who raise and lower prices depending on supply so that fishermen never make the vast sums of money they earn by hard labor. 

In the bad old days summers in the Keys were lean times when summer vacationers weren't trained to vacation in the beach-free Keys, so after the snowbirds left there was less and less money circulating. So they invented ridiculous reasons to try to attract tourists, blowing Conch shells, eating fish at festivals, imitating Hemingway, you name it, all culminating in Fantasy Fest in the leanest of months, October, at the height of hurricane season and with maximum humidity. The thing is: these crackpot ideas worked brilliantly and nowadays the Florida Keys have a ten month tourist season with some slight pause in September into November with one hair raising week for the dress up street party.  

Thus the original motivation for the Lobster Mini Season has pretty much been forgotten.  It was a way to offer a perk to locals sticking out the low tourist season and allow the population that isn't fishing commercially to have a go for a couple of days to catch  the much desired lobster. Nowadays so-called mini season leads to a massive influx of tourists hauling the Queen Mary on trailers behind their armored pick up trucks as they plan their battle orders for predawn raids on unsuspecting lobsters.

None of this cheers up commercial fishermen who are poised to start  their own harvests on the water in the next week. People ashore like myself who make no tips from the battle hardened anglers, look askance on the chaos while the shopkeepers' union, the Chamber of Commerce, cheers the whole process along, as they should.

The rules are pretty simple: Lobster Mini Season Rules. Basically you can take six lobster that aren't too small and you can only take them from open water without oxygen or spears. Of course there are idiots who can't follow simple rules and law enforcement is all over the Keys on land and water like a cheap suit. 

I don't particularly enjoy eating lobster and I don't enjoy angling and I can't stand crowds so you might imagine I have no interest in or love for mini season. That last sentence goes a long way to explaining why I'm taking off in a van next April. More to the point I find mini season tedious but it's over almost as soon as it  began so the pain is minimal. Long live lobster mini season. 

 

Lobster Mini Season

It started yesterday and ends tonight and not a minute too soon.

I have been feeling under the weather for a couple of days and spent most of Tuesday sleeping and chewing ibuprofen while feeling sorry for myself. I worshipped briefly at the porcelain altar and called out from work. It was in all respects a day best forgotten.

By the time I resurrected myself Wednesday, the bed a nightmare nest of twisted sheets after a restless period of unconsciousness, Cheyenne was trembling in anticipation of her walk. Such was my state of mind I had completely forgotten about lobster mini season and only remembered as I approached Big Pine and saw the highway lined with cars and the water filled with boats.

I have a plan to one day ride to Maine and eat a lobster roll which consists I am told of cold lobster and mayonnaise wrapped in a hot dog bun. People say it is delicious but I have to wonder. Lobster is a delicacy so I o end up eating it from time to time though I cannot imagine spending a perfectly good morning chasing lobsters underwater.

Mini season is a two day grace period for amateurs to go out and blunder aroud and see if the can catch legal sized lobsters in their natural habitat. Next month commercial lobster season begins and we will hear endless stories of too much rain, too much wind, etc etc explaining a poor harvest ad igh prices. Fishing is like fading I that cndrions are never quite right.

So these two July days see thousands of amateurs with only the vaguest knowledge of local waters and a tenuous grasp on the rules invade the Keys and get first dibs on the much sought after Florida lobster. Which some people say is much inferior to the North Atlantic version but on that I have no opinion.

Like any self respecting sport lobstering requires manly equipment, big trucks, big boas and lost of paraphernalia. So when I see these cast trucks towing huge trailers I wonder what chance do the little ouster have? Quite a lot it turns out as every year one or two less than capable divers end up dead.

Not everyone has the wherewithal to bring a boat but nothing daunted they set up camp by the side of the road and jump in anyhow and scrape around looking for te tell tale anenna of lobster lurking under rocks. There are limits on where exactly you can hunt including staying offshore a certain distance and not hunting in canals but enforcement is a huge task.

I tried to induce Cheyenne to take a country walk away frm the water but she was having none of it. My perverse dog wanted to walk by the water, perhaps for the breeze, perhaps for the bait that fishermen drop as they angle. It was a good plan, she hunted back and forth amusing herself while I stood on the slope and watched the busy boats come and go. Honestly I wasn't in the mood for a sturdy walk myself.

It was a beautiful day to be out on te water and I regret tha 2013 may be another year when we keep futzing around on land so much we don't get the skiff in the water ourselves.

Lobster mini season s one of those times in the Keys when you have to assume everyone is a little less focused than usual and one must drive accordingly.

I tried sitting in my folding chair with a book -Aurelio Zen by Michael Dibdin is my summer read this year- but Cheyenne with her usual precise sense of timing decided she wasn't going to amuse herself or leave me alone so reluctantly I landed us in the midst of the fray.

It's an odd business really, you can't spear them you can only tickle the to persuade them to come out of their lairs. You can't use compressed air, you must rely on what you carry in your lungs. You can only take lobster with tails of a certain length.

Imagine. A lobster will live 120 years if you leave it alone.

Locals maneuver their way between the busy keen amateurs. Some sit on the rocks, above, and watch, while others, below, go about their business as usual.

It was, in any event, a lovely day to be in the Keys.

I spoke with a Monroe county detective who was working with a Fish and Wildlife Officer trying to keep lobster hunters in line. "Thirty years I've been waiting for them to ban mini season, " he said with a sigh. I was anticipating the usual chaotic night in Key West with sun baked dehydrated hunter gatherers recounting their exploits over several too many drinks...FWC the yellow tag says. They were everywhere.

Last weekend it was Hemingway Days and now it's lobsters and next week it will be something else. It used to be that summer was quiet time but not anymore. A few people still refer to "season" meaning winter but It hardly seems to apply anymore. Lobster hunting is one more way to spread the money around so it will never be closed down. From the Citizen:

It' will be over soon and quiet times will return, and as they go maybe they will take the rowdy kids screeching about lobster in the rental home across the canal. That would be nice.

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Mini Lob

The season for the culling of miniature lobster in the Florida Keys came and went with perhaps fewer human deaths than usual, and lovely windy weather may have put paid to a few hunters' ambitions thus preserving the lives for at least a while of South Florida's miniature lobster. Fish and Wildlife reported almost a thousand boat stops and very few had reached their limits, so the take was less than usual. On the other hand they made no arrests but two people died, one while snorkeling and the other reportedly found some cocaine floating near Fiesta Key, opened the package and stuffed the found powder up his nose with predictable results. Two dead is bad enough but it was fewer than usual for this lobster madness.


It is known to some as "mini Lob" the two day orgy of hunting lobster before they fall prey to the "regular" season, that is the depredations of commercial hunters through the winter months. And the amateur hunters come in droves.


By dawn's early light they crowd the launch ramps, grocery stores and gas stations filling their pockets, and by extension ours, with all the vital equipment needed for the chasing and catching of miniature lobster.


They stop where they can, even on the shoulder of the highway I was astonished to note,


and launch themselves in desperate pursuit of lobster.


The rules are a bit obscure to me but each amateur human is allowed six kills each day of the two day hunt and no spears are allowed. It is limited to two days, thus the term "mini lobster," and the body excluding the head of each killed creature must be at least three whole inches long.


The forces of law and order arrayed against this army of hunters is naturally totally inadequate but they do what they can. One year my wife and I had found a quiet corner to anchor our skiff and take a swim not far from our house, when for the first time in living memory a green striped Marine Patrol vessel pulled alongside and the armed occupant started a friendly chat with we swimmers. I noticed the officer peering into our boat which was when I twigged what he was looking for, as we were the only people he spoke to that day who were not actively chasing lobster.


It is said lobster is delicious and it is if eaten in moderation. My taste for it rather dried up when I discovered lobster will live 120 years if not interfered with. For most though the pursuit of lobster for two days in July is the vacation long awaited, an opportunity for good fellowship and shared adventure.


For me it is a valuable source of money for the Keys,


For lobster it is the beginning of the killing season.

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Lobster Fest

Lobster Fest is one of those events put together to fill a summer weekend in a town that needs a constant flow of visitors to survive the summer doldrums of the tourist industry. Chuck was thinking about his road trip to Maine, the place where some people say, one goes to get real lobsters, not Florida's crawfish...Chuck and Wayne weren't setting out on the road with the deliberate intent of snubbing Florida lobster, though there was a fair bit of lip smacking going on at the mention of New England lobster rolls. At our house they fortified themselves with blue corn pancakes and fruit salad and chicory coffee before their long drive Up North.After that my wife and I somehow resisted the afternoon heat and stayed home. I was going to work at 6pm, she did some work during the afternoon with fellow teacher Josh, preparing for the new school year which starts August 23rd.Cheyenne napped, exhausted from her morning walk. I played with my camera until it was time to leave. Duval Street, an hour before my shift started, was a different world. Commerce under the sun.
The Key West Citizen reported lobster fishermen in some cases decided to get their catch to the festival in an effort to get slightly higher prices. I don't mind the flavor or texture of lobster but I find it hard to get enthused about eating an animal that, left unmolested, might live 120 years. What that has to do with it, I couldn't really say, but since I found out how long these harmless, defenseless creatures live, I have found it hard to eat them. An Italian ice looked like a good idea to me.There did not seem to be vast, overwhelming crowds on Duval Street this year.There were enough people around to keep this guy amused.

The tower on Old City Hall had some competition. I prefer the tower to the bottle as a symbol of the city.

Or the bare chested cyclist, of which there were several stalwarts on hand to represent the southernmost city.I thought this sign was more than usually harsh. Not every vacationer wants to move here. The idea of the electric car as recycling bin held some appeal for me. I wish these vehicles could be allowed to drive just a tad bit faster on city streets.Happiness was beer and lobster for some. Lots of lobster.

Seen this way the poor thing looks like the alien from the movie of the same name. Creepy.

I just don't see the pleasure of standing around in the sun balancing a paper plate and struggling with bendy plastic cutlery. If it's lobster I want I would pay to sit in comfort and eat it.

I am in a minority of one in this heresy.

The dust catcher stalls lined the street.

A Key West event without a parrot (another excessively long lived animal) is not a proper event.

Lobster appeals to everyone.

St Paul's looking magnificent in the afternoon sun.

I think in a month or so Duval will be home to the swarms of Bike Week. I don't know how I will amuse myself till then.