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Old 08-05-2018, 10:58 AM   #1
Jay R.
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commercial lobster divers?

I am talking to a buddy of mine at work about how much fun we had in the Keys for mini season and he mentions to me that he doesn't worry about getting lobster anymore because he has a buddy with a commercial license. He trades stuff with him back and forth for bugs. Then he tells me that he dives for them, and average day for him is 8 tanks and a bad day is 60 bugs and a good day is 150. I know I am just a recreational guy at this but those seem like crazy numbers for someone to get diving, especially in Ft. Pierce. Has anyone here heard of this before?

I don't even want to do the math to plan 8 dives.
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Old 08-05-2018, 12:08 PM   #2
sealark
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

Yes very easy to get that amount. And it is illegal to trade lobsters that were caught with a commerercial permit. They all must be sold and a trip ticket made out from a licensed dealer.
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Old 08-05-2018, 02:27 PM   #3
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

I watched a few videos on it in the Bahamas, that looks like it would be crazy easy but all illegal over here in the states. Just hard to imagine how they could get that many over here.
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Old 08-05-2018, 02:52 PM   #4
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

There’s commercial divers and then there’s rec divers. Hobby vs profession
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Old 08-06-2018, 06:00 AM   #5
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

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Originally Posted by Jay R. View Post
I watched a few videos on it in the Bahamas, that looks like it would be crazy easy but all illegal over here in the states. Just hard to imagine how they could get that many over here.
Jay I had the commercial Dive permit since the first year it came out, sold it 2 years ago, old age. Every year we would get hundreds a day. So like I said it is easy. Before Casitas were outlawed it was possible for 2 or 3 divers to get a thousand lobsters a day. I dove out of Key West.
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Old 08-06-2018, 10:39 AM   #6
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

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Jay I had the commercial Dive permit since the first year it came out, sold it 2 years ago, old age. Every year we would get hundreds a day. So like I said it is easy. Before Casitas were outlawed it was possible for 2 or 3 divers to get a thousand lobsters a day. I dove out of Key West.
You mean to say increase in Goliath groupers that are causing the reduction of lobsters...........
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Old 08-06-2018, 08:54 PM   #7
Jay R.
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

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Jay I had the commercial Dive permit since the first year it came out, sold it 2 years ago, old age. Every year we would get hundreds a day. So like I said it is easy. Before Casitas were outlawed it was possible for 2 or 3 divers to get a thousand lobsters a day. I dove out of Key West.
I understand it in the keys, I just can't imagine getting those numbers diving for them in Fort Pierce.
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Old 08-06-2018, 08:56 PM   #8
Jay R.
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

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There’s commercial divers and then there’s rec divers. Hobby vs profession
I understand that, but I am being lead to believe that he is diving for them and catching them with a tickle stick and a net like the rest of us. Commercial or not, that is a lot of work for that many bugs off Fort Pierce. We have bugs here and they are big, but they are not as readily available like they are in the keys. In the Key I can understand getting that many every day.
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Old 08-07-2018, 05:45 AM   #9
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

Jay you are correct the lobster migrate into the keys area and the bigger older ones wind up north of the keys. I have dove Jacksonville and Pensacola. The lobsters are much bigger and very few. There is no way to get the keys number of lobsters up north of the keys. 2 or 3 a day up here is a lot. I never heard of a commercial lobster diver or trapper up north.
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Old 08-07-2018, 12:18 PM   #10
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

The best dive I've seen was 73 tails off Jax in almost 140'.

My best 5 day trip was 320 pounds of tail,almost a 3 pound average per tail. 5 years ago.We were also spearfishing so not lobstering as hard.

Best 5 day trip for one guy I know of was almost 900 pounds of tail off Jax maybe 3 years ago.

So,yeah , there are some commercial guys up here.It's deep and a long drive so not many day boat guys.Also harder to harvest bugs that average so big.

In the Keys on rec dives,I considered a boat limit on 1 tank pretty commonplace among my friends,but we avoided mini sport and came in August.

Prices are better up here too.
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Old 08-08-2018, 06:03 AM   #11
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Re: commercial lobster divers?

Well now I heard of commercial in Jax. I was stationed there 73 to 76 and only dove the known reefs in 120 and less. Good to know there are still large numbers of the monsters left. I think the big ones taste better also.
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