Lobster mini season hits the Keys on July 29 and 30 this year, and the regular season kicks off August 6 and runs through the end of March. Soon, boats will line up before sunrise from Key Largo down to Key West, dive flags popping up along US 1, and coolers packed for the ride home. Most of it is good, clean Keys fun. But every season, our office fields calls from visitors who had no idea a fishing trip could turn into a criminal case.
Here’s the reality: FWC officers patrol these waters hard during lobster season, and they know exactly what to look for. Undersized lobster, no gauge on board, too many lobsters caught for the day, dive flags in the wrong place. Law Enforcement stops can escalate fast if an officer believes you or someone else on your boat knowingly broke the rules, and what starts as a routine check can turn into formal FWC resource violation charges that follow a visitor home long after their vacation ends. We’ve represented plenty of tourists who genuinely didn’t understand the rules were criminal in nature, not just a warning ticket situation.
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Bringing Home a Short Lobster
Florida law generally requires a spiny lobster’s carapace to measure more than three inches, and that measurement has to happen in the water before it ever goes in the bag. Divers who pull a borderline lobster onto the boat and measure it later are already taking a risk. If it turns out short, that’s typically charged as a separate misdemeanor for each undersized lobster found in the cooler. Bring back five shorts and you could be looking at five counts, not one.
No Measuring Device? That’s a Problem on Its Own
This one catches people off guard every single year. Florida requires anyone harvesting lobster to carry and use a measuring device at all times, even if every lobster in the cooler happens to be legal size. Forgetting the gauge at the dock isn’t a technicality officers tend to overlook. It’s its own citation, separate from anything found in your catch bag.
About that gauge requirement… we get asked a lot whether a phone app or a mental estimate counts. It doesn’t. Officers want to see an actual measuring tool used in the water, and testimony about “eyeballing it” rarely helps in front of a judge.
Going Over the Limit
Monroe County and Biscayne National Park waters carry a bag limit of six lobster per person per day. That number stays firm no matter how many people are on the boat who aren’t actually diving. We’ve seen groups try to stretch the limit by counting non divers toward the total, and that approach does not hold up with FWC. Possession limits also apply on land, not just in the water, so a cooler or freezer full of extra lobster back at the rental house can still result in charges.
Major overages, particularly possessing at least 100 undersized lobsters, can push a case from a simple misdemeanor into felony territory under Florida’s wildlife enforcement framework.
Harvesting Where You’re Not Supposed To
The Keys are full of protected waters, and that trips up visitors constantly. Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound sanctuary, and the no take zones within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are off limits to lobster harvest year round. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park adds another layer during mini season specifically, closing entirely to lobster harvest for those two days. These boundaries aren’t always obvious from a boat, and GPS apps don’t always mark them clearly.
This reminds us of a broader pattern we see in these cases: visitors assume that if the water looks open and other boats are anchored nearby, it must be legal to harvest there. That assumption gets people cited more than almost anything else we handle this time of year.
What These Charges Actually Mean
Most lobster related offenses in Florida start as second degree misdemeanors, carrying potential fines and up to 60 days in jail for a first offense. That may sound minor compared to other criminal matters, but a conviction still creates a permanent record, and enhanced or repeat violations can carry stiffer penalties, including felony exposure for the most serious cases involving trap interference or large scale undersized catches.
Our experience shows that FWC officers are thorough and mini season enforcement is intense across Monroe County, from Marathon out to the reefs off Islamorada. If you’re facing a citation or arrest connected to a lobster trip, the timing matters. We encourage anyone in this situation to reach out early, before a court date sneaks up and options start narrowing. We’re here when you need us, and a quick consultation before your case moves forward can make a real difference in how it plays out.