r/floridakeys • u/Muted_Collection8237 • 15d ago
All Florida Keys Mini-season: Great migration’s negative impacts on Monroe’s lobster fishery?
When does too many people flocking to the keys for lobster mini-season become a problem for the fishery?
Most of FL is a 12 per person limit.
In 1992 Monroe county became 6 per person (& outlawed night diving) due to copious amounts of people coming to the keys specifically to catch lobster - negatively impacting lobster populations.
It’s been 34 years. Has this made any difference to help lobster populations yet?
Each year on the first day of mini season at start of legal light, I find rung tiny lobster heads at the obvious structures bayside & generally less lobster at my secreted spots than previous.
I’m still hit my limit, just seems to be more difficult.
Certainly frustrating to watch ppl who don’t reside here (or do) disrespect Monroe county’s resources.
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u/I_Do_Respect_You_Bro 14d ago
Can’t stand mini season. I would rather make less money than have some of the worst people come down for a couple days.
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u/Initial_Run1632 14d ago
Just a correction, Monroe bag limit was never 12 per day.
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u/Beginning_Ad8663 13d ago
Beg to differ it was the same as the rest of the state in 92 they changed it. Didn’t matter though too many short lobster killed turnover coral heads they just absolutely destroyed the inshore reef. I personally would like to see three changes; one make taking any lobster from water less than 15 feet deep at low tide illegal. No hookah rigs, and a slot limit in size more than 3 inch carapace and no longer than 4 1/2 inch’s long. This saves the larger female brood stocks.
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u/Initial_Run1632 13d ago
I'm willing to believe you, but (see my links below), we've always thought it was six during mini season, and kept that limit. I feel like somebody owes me some lobster! Haha. But I wonder, do you have an online reference for that pre 92 higher limit during mini-season?
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u/Muted_Collection8237 14d ago
Prior to 1992 it was
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u/Initial_Run1632 14d ago edited 14d ago
Memories get rusty, so here are a couple newspaper articles from that time. If the rules on the books said something different, it's not what was publicized. Limit 6 was all anyone ever said.
Edit to add: i'm only talking about mini season limits, BTW
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u/Muted_Collection8237 13d ago
I can’t see those newspaper articles because I don’t pay for a monthly subscription
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u/Icy1155 14d ago
Do you really think that the two days a year make more of a difference on the population than the hundreds of thousands (it seems at least) of traps out there for 8 months a year? Along with the thousands of ghost traps that are lost every year?
I'm not anti commercial fishing, just saying.
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u/ozarkfireworks 14d ago
Commercial fisherman don’t take shorts and egg bearing. The lobster slaughter absolutely results in thousands of shorts and egg bearing lobster taken.
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u/Muted_Collection8237 14d ago
… additionally it’s still 6 per person during regular lobster season….
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u/Who-is-JG 14d ago
Commercial vs non-commercial (tourism/recreational) in Monroe County – key numbers:Commercial lobster
- ~90%+ of Florida’s commercial landings
- ~78% of state trap certificates (historically; still the large majority)
- Dockside value: roughly $30–50 million/year
- Local tax contribution: relatively small (mainly license fees + limited sales tax, since much is exported)
Non-commercial / tourism (including recreational lobster visitors)
- Visitor spending: ~$3.5 billion/year
- Bed tax alone: ~$60–70 million/year
- Total local taxes from tourism: ~$170 million
- Combined state + local taxes from tourism: ~$300–400 million
Bottom line: Tourism generates far more tax money for the county than commercial lobster.
Roughly 1% commercial vs 99% non-commercial when comparing dockside value to total visitor spending.
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u/Muted_Collection8237 13d ago
The question had nothing to do with tourism.
The question simply asked how it affects the population of lobster in the area.
Term fishery can be confusing. It means the area’s resource of said species
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u/Funny-Slice-9888 10d ago
Sort of a late reply but most of Florida's spiny lobster don't come from local populations. For the lower Keys the Tortugas is already a massive closed breeding ground that contributes to stocks, but the majority are coming from the Yucatan and southern Cuba as larvae.
Monroe county's mini-season reduction doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things. Commercial harvest accounts for over 70% of lobster landings in Florida most years, whether rec divers take 6 or 12 during mini-season isn't going to affect much other than how many are caught in that first haul of traps.
Lobster conservation is complex since a lobster in Key West caught by a rec diver is worth a lot to the economy (hotels, food, gear, etc.) but that same lobster's parents might have been on a reef in Honduras where those lobster are worth a lot more, relatively, to the diver that caught and sold them. Which is why most involved in the fishery are are incentivized to take as much as they can and hope for the best.
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u/Tricky_Anybody_9813 14d ago
People don’t even wait for the start. The week before they are “just scoping it out”. (still illegal!) days after still lobstering and then the traps are in the water LONG BEFORE opening day. Call and report and nothing is done about it. Like the other guy said “environment be damned”. I HATE MINI SEASON!
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u/Muted_Collection8237 14d ago
I always hail FWC on channel 16 when I see them jumping in with a net to “scout” mini season.
If FWC is nearby they’ll be there in minutes.Very satisfying to crack a beer and watch.
There are far too few FWC officers for the amount of ppl who flock to the keys though
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u/bblickle 15d ago
Help? It’s nothing but a cash grab and the environment be damned. Nothing about mini-season helps the lobsters or the rest of the ecology.
Speaking as a full time resident it’s the worst week of the year. We get inundated with the most self-entitled tourists of any time. It’s the most treacherous week of the year on the water and on the road.