Make the lobster sport season more sporting for the crawfishhttp://www.keynoter.com/letters/lettersfront.html Publication Date: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 EDITOR: So, what is so sporting about sport lobster season? Shouldn’t it be called by its true name, pillage and plunder season? I commend the various cities, citizens and organizations trying to tame this wild beast, but what is so sporting about all of this? Nothing. So why don’t we make these days challenging? How do you do this, you ask? Well, why don’t you do like California does for abalone diving – no scuba tanks, freediving only. If you’re a true sportsman, you can do this. The enforcement would be simple. If you are caught with scuba tanks and lobster on board your boat, you’re guilty and you pay the price. Lobster tags are a noble idea, but you and I know that divers will be up at the crack of dawn, limit out, hide their catch, and go back out for another limit if their tags have not been pulled, checked or somehow documented. Here’s another brainstorm I haven’t heard mentioned: Why not limit the hours, say, from 9 a.m. to noon? It would be pretty hard to double the limit in three hours, and any boat in less than 100 feet of water after noon would be very suspect. I believe all locals support, or would support, a 300-foot buffer zone [from residential shorelines] for taking lobster. But if you don’t, why not consider these compromises? Allow bully-netting for those without boats, as proposed by Jim Bellizzi (Keynoter letter to the editor, Oct. 31). Additionally, you could remove the 300-foot ban after Labor Day, when most of the lobster mobsters have gone back to their 9-to-5 existences. Why not spread out the sport season? That is, make Day 1 on a Tuesday and Day 2 on a Thursday. Let’s milk those mobsters for an extra day’s lodging, meals, etc. If the locals need the income, this would be a great revenue booster. Let’s make lobster mini-season truly sporting, and more profitable for our economy. The Keys residents and the Keys ecosystem deserve more respect than the lobster-mobster pillage-and-plunder divers give us. Stand up, be heard, and remember that what you abuse today probably won’t be here to enjoy tomorrow. Tom Casey Marathon Martinez, Calif.
First of all, Tom, just where are you from. We want to know what business you run so we may avoid being milked. Locals like yourself who want to keep me and my family out of your backyard need to rethink your words. You spout off about the lobster sport season being a problem, but you fail to understand why we flock to the Keys in such numbers. For a chance to see the reef full of lobster, not barren like they become once the traps hit the water. For a chance to see more than 5' and not swim in 55F degree water. For a chance to dive shallow. Tom, you want to make us shed the tanks. Surely you know that the commercial scuba divers are making the largest gain in lobster landings. And you must know that the commercial take is 75% of all harvest. If you want to do something to reduce the pressure on the lobster populations, ask the Coast Guard to enforce CFR 46-197 and other laws on the books they ignore. Ask the commission to not allow MORE shorts to be used to bait the traps that litter the Keys. Ask your buddies selling lobster through the back door of restaurants to stop stealing from all of us. We feel that increasing the sport season to 14 days is the only fair solution. It will keep the Keys from being bum rushed by 60,000 people in just two days. We do not ask for any increase in limits, we want a more relaxed pace while enjoying the resource before the commercial slaughter begins. Please sign the form to ask for an extended sport season on my web page. "Let’s make lobster mini-season truly sporting, and more profitable for our economy." GET RID OF THE TRAPS "The Keys residents and the Keys ecosystem deserve more respect than the lobster-mobster pillage-and-plunder divers give us." IT IS CALLED PADI COUNTRY. TOM THINKS WE ARE ALL ROLLING AROUND ON THE CORAL. "Stand up, be heard, and remember that what you abuse today probably won’t be here to enjoy tomorrow." THE ABUSE IS THE WHOLESALE DESTRUCTION LEFT IN THE WAKE OF THE COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY. PLEASE PRESERVE THE RESOURCE FROM OVERHARVEST BY THE GLUTTONOUS COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN, AND PRESERVE MY RIGHT TO HUNT LOBSTER IN THE FLORIDA KEYS. |