Each year, thousands of tourists and Florida residents flock to the waters of South Florida. It's critical that you have everything you need to know for Florida Lobster Season. The waters off Dade and Monroe counties are world renowned for their spiny lobster season. Before the full season open on August 6th at 12:01am, mini season is open from Tuesday July 26th at 12:01am and closes on Wednesday July 27th at midnight. There are simple questions that need to be answered before hitting the water. What's the legal size limit? How do you measure properly? And What's the daily limit? We will answer all of those questions and more. We want to give you everything you need to know for Florida Lobster Season.
Safe boating practices is essential for a successful day on the water. In addition to having the proper safety gear on board, protecting the coral reefs is a high importance. Hundreds or even thousands of extra watercraft will be on the water over the mini and regular season. It's illegal to anchor on coral. Find and sandy bottom and anchor out there. There is an app that you can use to help if you're not absolutely sure on where the coral reefs are located, it's Marine Sanctuary Explorer. Download the app to your phone and allow access to your location. It will alert you when a reef is nearby. Nothing can kill a fun day on the water like getting in trouble for something you didn't know was wrong. Here's everything you need to know for Florida Lobster Season.
Locations Closed for Lobstering
There are select locations that are closed year round from lobstering. There are Florida KEys National Marine Sanctuary zones that are close year round and are NO-TAKE ZONES. These will be outlined with yellow buoys. In 2020 Biscayne Bay National Park closed all harvet in 5 areas that can be found here. Here are some other locations closed year round.
- Everglades National Park
- Dry Tortugas National Park
- San Pedro Archeological State Park, Islamorada
- Biscayne Bay Card Sound Spiny Lobster Sanctuary
- City of Layton
- Artificial Habitat in State Waters
Other Places to Stay Away From
NO snorkeling or diving is allowed within 300 feet of residential or commercial shoreline. This includes canals and any public or private marinas. Night diving, defined as one hour after sunset and one hour prior to sunrise, is prohibited during the two-day sport season.
It is also illegal to take or tamper with any commercial lobster traps. And recreational trapping is also illegal.
Size Matters
The law is the lobster's Carapace (hard part of the shell) must be greater than 3 inches. And you are supposed to measure the lobsters BEFORE removing them from the water.
NOT All You Can Eat
Each person's limit is 6 legal lobsters per day. I think we need to emphasize the word DAY. If your limit is hit at 10am, you can not drop your haul off, then go back out.
More Safety
It's important to let other boaters know that there are divers in the water. And divers must stay within 300 feet of their vessel or within 100 feet if in a channel. You must not only use your dive flag when bodies are in the water, but remember to take it down when everyone is out and you're getting ready to leave. And when you are approaching a boat with a dive flag raised you must idle within 100 yards.
Now you're ready to go out and have a great day on the water while keeping not only you, but other boats and divers around you safe.
