How did lobster miniseason go in the Florida Keys? Police were busy, two tourists died

How’d you do during Florida’s 48-hour lobster miniseason?

Did you catch your legal limit?

That would be six lobsters per person, per boat in the Florida Keys and Biscayne National Park in Miami-Dade County, while in the rest of the state the formula is a dozen lobsters.

Or did you wait until late on the second day to only find lobster spots picked over, leaving only undersized spiny lobster crawling out of holes underwater?

And hopefully you followed Florida’s lobstering rule that requires you have a measuring gauge on you while in the water and measure the lobsters you catch while in the water if you’re diving or snorkeling.

Several people ended up in jail for either not measuring their lobsters or not caring that they were short.

Between July 27-28, law enforcement was out in full force across the island chain — the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Coast Guard.

FWC reported four arrests from a single incident during miniseason, in which four tourists were found with 37 lobsters. Of their haul, 27 of the lobsters were undersized.

The two women and two men were taken to the county jail.

But the big picture showed nothing new in lobstering-related crime in the Keys.

“Overall, this year was a typical year for the sheriff’s office during miniseason,” said Adam Linhardt, a spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, who released miniseason numbers on Friday. “Most people were in compliance.”

MCSO reported an increase in the number of boat stops this year, but Linhardt said the number of notice-to-appear in court citations and arrests were average for the past few years.

For both days, from Key Largo to Key West, MCSO made about 600 inspections on and off the water. These included stopping boats to look for compliance with safety rules and checking that lobsters people plucked from the ocean were large enough to take by law.

Of the 600 stops, 289 were done on Wednesday.

MCSO made four arrests for wildlife violations and one for tampering with evidence, all on Wednesday. Deputies handed out 18 mandatory notice-to-appear in court citations.

Of the 18, one was for having 17 more lobsters than the legal limits, with 13 of the lobsters undersized. In another case, the crime was having nine lobsters over the limit and also having 11 undersized ones.

In addition, Keys deputies issued citations for less serious violations on and off the water for Wednesday and Thursday, Linhardt said.

Four deaths in one week

The week did come with reminders of the dangerous side of exploring the Keys by water.

Four deaths on the water were reported during the week, including two on July 27, the first day of miniseason, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

• Boyd Eastham Nelson, 51, of Tampa, died after losing consciousness in the water at about 12:30 p.m. near Bluefish Channel off Key West.

• Leon Dietz, 64, of Garland, Texas, died after collapsing in a boat just north of Mile Marker 3 at about 12:30 p.m.

Earlier in the week, two snorkelers died in the Keys:

• The body of a 27-year-old man from Port Orange, Florida, was pulled from the water on the Gulf side of Key Haven outside Key West on July 25, after FWC and the Coast Guard searched for hours. A FWC spokesman said he had head trauma from a possible boat strike and called it a “fatal boating accident.” The state agency later handed the investigation to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement because of the possibility an FWC boat was involved, “to ensure complete transparency. An FWC vessel was in the area at the time and location of the incident.

• Kale Dailey, 53, of Englewood, Florida, died after being removed from the water during a snorkel trip in the Lower Keys Tuesday. He was snorkeling in Sawyer Channel with a group at about 11:24 a.m. when he said he wasn’t feeling well. He was helped into the boat and taken by state wildlife officers to Blimp Road on Cudjoe Key, where he died.

Miami-Dade first responders started lobster miniseason on Wednesday by responding to serious injury in Biscayne Bay, WSVN-Channel 7 News reported. A person diving for spiny lobsters suffered a leg injury from being struck by a propeller and was airlifted from No Name Harbor Marina to a local hospital..

The waters off the Keys once again were dotted with boats filled with tourists hunting for lobster and locals who also grab their share each year.

Windy conditions and murky water greeted many people on the opening day, making it tough to see the bugs in order to dive for them.

But the not-so-great conditions this year didn’t stop crowds from hauling boats down the Overseas Highway from the mainland to the Keys, with snorkel gear, fins, tickle sticks, bags and gloves to keep from cutting their hands on the sharp spots on a lobster’s body.

Miniseason runs every last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July. It is named for being the short stretch ahead of the regular commercial and recreational spiny lobster season that runs Aug. 6 through March 31.

Miniseason was approved in 1974 by the Florida Legislature to ease conflict between recreational anglers and commercial trappers before the regular season started.