Fisherman Hit the Keys for 2-Day Lobster Event

July 25, 2007 — -- The claws are out in the Florida Keys.

The chain of islands known for quirky annual events like an underwater music festival and a Hemingway look-alike contest is gearing up for another one: The lobster miniseason — as in two days — officially kicks off today.

The 48-hour hunt for the Florida spiny lobster, a tropical cousin of the Atlantic lobster, is expected to draw 20,000 lobster lovers.

At the opening hour, the stroke of midnight this morning, a veritable armada of boats filled with eager fishermen was poised for assault.

The lobster, known for its pointy spine and small claws, only ventures out at night. Special traps set at depths of six to 300 feet are used to harvest them with a limit of six lobster per fisherman per day.

It took one group of hunters only 30 minutes to get its quota.

"The meat that's in that tail — that's better than your mother's love," one fisherman said.

During the day the festivities become an underwater game of cat and mouse as fishermen don scuba gear and wary lobsters scamper for their lives.

The event is a boon for local dive shops, with 25 percent of their annual business coming from the huge crowds that attend the short festival, which ends Thursday night.

"Between the dive gear, the hotel stay, eating out every night and traveling down here, they're not cheap lobster," said dive shop owner Al Jeffrey.

Last year, the popular event was marred by tragedy when five lobster fishermen died while scuba diving during the miniseason and several others were seriously injured while in underwater pursuit.

And this year one person already has died. Florida Fish and Wildlife confirmed the first fatality of this year's two day lobster mini-season. A man died of an apparent heart attack here in the Keys around 7.30 this morning.

In response, Florida fisheries officers have instituted safety campaigns and strict enforcement of fisheries laws.